Code Lyoko: Reborn
by uxy827
Summary: Set after Season 4. It's been three years since the end of XANA, and the Lyoko Warriors finally live normal lives. Ulrich and Yumi develop a rift and it's up to them both to determine their true feelings before Yumi leaves for college. As the year goes on, the Warriors find new clues about an ally and the return of an old enemy, and with it, a reluctant return to days of heroism.
1. Chapter 1: Three Years Ago

**So my inspiration for this fanfic was binge watching Code Lyoko yesterday after I remembered how huge a part of my childhood it was. The main thing I was disappointed about was how Ulrich and Yumi never get together despite 90 some episodes of teasing and back-and-forth. While I wanted to resolve this conflict I also thought it'd be cool to throw in some action of my own in later chapters. I honestly don't know how often I'll update, these could be the first and last two chapters I write (Edit: It looks like I can consistently update every few days or so, but once it's summer it'll probably be less often). It's actually been three years since I've been on this website, peep my other fanfic in Lorien Legacies that I never got around to finishing. Rated T for occasional swearing, some violence, and mostly teenage fluff. Favorite and Review to let me know what you think. Enjoy! (Disclaimer, I don't own anything affiliated with Code Lyoko, yada yada)**

* * *

It's been three years.

Three years since XANA was destroyed for good.

Three years since the start of our normal lives.

Three years since I made that promise.

The alarm rings and I stretch a hand to slap it. I take a quick shower and put on my usual outfit, all black everything. Despite protests I swipe some food from Hiroki for breakfast before I sling my bag over my shoulders and walk out of the house.

"Have fun at school, dear!" Mom calls after me. I acknowledge her with a single wave.

"Say hi to your boyfriend for me!" Hiroki drawls. I roll my eyes. With exams coming up, college applications, and just general school life, I can hardly afford to think about… _him._

"I-it's been so great. I just don't want it to end."

"There'll be plenty of other good times, even without Lyoko." I smile and take his hands.

"Promise?" he asks, giving me a small smile.

"I swear." The last things I see are his soft, warm eyes before the Return to the Past engulfs us.

I stop suddenly and shake my head. Ugh. This flashback again. I stop in the park on the way to Kadic and lean against a tree. _Something special…I thought we had something special going then,_ I think. I feel a single tear roll down my cheek and I quickly wipe it away and slap myself. _Get yourself together, it's a Monday, you got the whole rest of the week before you can mope._ I've been more prone to break down lately and have violent mood swings. I hate to admit it, but without the constant threat of XANA and going back to Lyoko, the ex-Lyoko Warriors have drifted just like any other group. Granted, our hundreds of adventures being shot at and fighting almost every person on campus possessed at one point or another bonds us closer. We still have gatherings every once in a while. Or maybe it's just me who's drifted away from the others? After all, Jeremy and Aelita have been together for almost a year now after he finally grew the balls to ask her out after two years of her dropping hints. Odd and Ulrich still room together and take the same classes. Odd is still the same kid who's constantly rejected by girls and swallows plate after plate of nasty cafeteria food. So that leaves him.

If there was ever such a thing as breaking a promise without officially breaking it that's what I would call it. We still spar when one/both of us is bored or needs to let some steam out. But I rarely ever see him anymore, partly by accident but mostly by design. Every time we talk it's about superficial and unimportant things like school or gossip. I've never felt the urge to kiss and punch someone so badly at the same time. We haven't hung out alone, just with the group. Our near-kiss in the desert sector. The time he said he wouldn't be jealous since we were "just good friends" echoed around in my head for days.

"Stupid!" I muttered to myself under my breath. "Make up your fucking mind!"

"Uh-hey Yumi," a voice says. I glance sideways. A boy with dark spiky hair walks up to me.

"Hey William," I reply. "What are you doing?"

"Was gonna ask you the same thing. I'm headed this way for my art class. There's five minutes till class starts," he tells me.

"Thanks William, see ya soon." I smile and wave as he walks into the park. William had accepted a long time ago that we weren't meant for something more than being friends. Even though he was attractive and snarky I never felt any serious feelings for him. This was perfectly fine since we had come to be good friends in spite of our different paths and interests.

I wonder if he still gets jealous when he sees me with William. I used to take a sad sort of pleasure in seeing his jealousy. As I walk to class I can't stop thinking about him. Next year we won't be able to see each other. And that might be the end of anything we ever had. _What is it?_ I wonder. _Snap out of it. Now is not the time for your hormones to hijack your brain._

I plop my stuff down and sit in my desk. _How ironic that I think about all this shit in the morning and start my day with Chemistry,_ I think to myself. I sit with Jeremy and we breeze through the energy change problems easily and have a lot of time left in class.

"So, Yumi, where do you think you'll be going next year?" Jeremy asks.

"Dunno. I applied to schools in England, the Netherlands, America, and Germany."

"Not any in Japan?" Jeremy asks.

"Nah. Sometimes going home isn't the best formula."

"Fair enough. What are you going to study?"

"I don't know. I kind of just like everything equally. I don't like or hate anything."

"Hmm," Jeremy ponders. "Well, you've at least got a couple more years to figure it out."

I smile. "What about you, Einstein? Got any big plans for next year?"

"Don't know where I'm going but I'm definitely doing something with computers or engineering. Maybe both."

"Nerd," I smirk and punch him lightly in the arm.

"Hey!" he protests.

"Are you and Aelita going to the same school?" I blurt it out suddenly and immediately regret it. _I'm just all beside myself with emotions today._ Luckily I didn't say it loud enough for nearby students to hear. Jeremy doesn't seem to mind.

"We don't know yet. We'd like to, obviously, but when the time comes we'll have to make that decision." The bell rings and the students begin to shuffle out.

"Don't forget, exams in a week and a half!" the teacher reminds us. I groan. I still have to maintain my grades while waiting on admissions. Technically the deadline for applications wasn't for another few weeks but I got utterly bored and decided to do them early.

I float through the rest of the day, not really in it. At lunch I sit with Sissi and her friends. Even though we've accepted Sissi as a group I still have to keep tuning her out every time she starts bitching about another one of her first world problems. Class after class, reminder after reminder of exams. I'm exhausted just mentally at the end of the day. It's the lull of the middle of the year and it's hit me the hardest this year. I don't care about classes, I don't care about the academy, and I don't even see my friends that often anymore. Living the lone wolf life has its toll. _I just want to leave this place and start my new life,_ I think. _Is that really all that you want?_ A voice replies back. I grit my teeth. _Shut up,_ I tell myself. _He's irrelevant. You had your chance and you threw it away, and the door will be completely shut this time next year._

I decide to go blow off some steam in the training room. I launch kicks and punches and practice counters at the bags. It's dinnertime, and rarely anyone uses the training room anyway except for a handful of people. _Tch, you can do better than that,_ the voice in my head says. _Ulrich would've countered the hell out of that and have you pinned in seconds._ "Shut up," I mutter. "I beat his ass the last three times we sparred." Our last spar, though, was about two months ago. _Actually, being pinned by him doesn't sound so bad,_ I think. _I haven't been pinned by him in forever…no, shut up and focus!_ I reconcentrate my thoughts. I'm even more enraged than before, just throwing everything as hard as I can at the bag. I connect with a punch and I feel pain in my hand. The bag goes flying and lands about 10 feet away from me. I look down at my hand and the knuckles are red. It feels sore. _Goddammit, look what you did now,_ I think. I figure my best option is to just hightail it out of there before I get in trouble for breaking school equipment, and I run back to my home.

"What did you do to your hand?" Mom asks.

"Ugh, nothing, just trained too hard," I answer as she wraps my hand in tape.

"It should be fine after a few days, just a few bruises and some strains here and there," my dad says.

"Jeez, sis, what'd you do? Punch Ulrich after you saw him cheating?" Hiroki asks. I somehow summon the willpower to ignore him after all of my mental stress today.

"Get some rest, darling," my mom tells me. "It's only the beginning of the week and you'll need all your energy-and both your hands-to finish school here."

"Alright, mom." I drag my stuff upstairs and plop down on the bed. I stare out the window, contemplating today and my year.

 _It started out just like any other year,_ I think. _We would talk when we got the chance, but not go out of our way to do it. But we've been even more isolated this year._ I think about how he's changed. I used to be a few inches taller than him for the longest time, and then puberty happened and now he's my height, maybe even a little taller. Even though he's made new friends and toyed around with other girls, he really hasn't gotten seriously involved either. _Don't know how all the other girls deal with rejection from him. It's like he purposely wears shirts that hug his frame. He could get anybody he wanted and yet he's still content to just live his life the way it has been._ "Snap out of it," I mutter quietly to myself. _What's he holding out for? Does he hate our rift just as much as I do? Maybe this is all wishful thinking and he's just not the type to get involved._ But then I remember all the times he'd blush when I'd stand close to him, when I teased him for getting into a fight with me to get close to me. _Yumi, you're a mess. Maybe you rolled out on the wrong side of the bed this morning._ I sigh and roll into bed. It's so unlike me to be focused on this one issue for so long. Maybe a good night's sleep will sort this out for tomorrow.


	2. Chapter 2: Skating Fine

"Woohoo!" Odd flies off the ramp, does a few flips, and lands perfectly to keep going.

"Let's go Odd!" I shout, clapping and cheering along with the audience. Odd does a few more tricks before slowing down and getting off the ramp. He twirls his skateboard and grins, but is ignored by all the girls when he makes attempts.

"That's enough! It's dinnertime so I want everyone off the ramp and in the cafeteria!" Jim shouts. The kids slowly group and start walking towards the cafeteria.

"Dude, they've got stuffed baked potatoes today!" Odd shouts excitedly.

"Ugh," I say. "You know that's probably not a potato and it's definitely not stuffed?"

"Food is food," Odd answers. I shrug and we get in line. "Oh, uh, Yumi's not gonna be here so she said I could have her portion!" Odd tells the lunch lady. She looks at him, realizes he'll probably come back anyway, and puts another potato on his tray. "Allllll right!"

"Wait," I say. "How do you know Yumi's not gonna be here?"

"Uh, I just said the first name that came to mind," Odd chuckles. "Why? Worried about your future fiancé?"

"We don't have a thing," I say, a little harshly. "I haven't talked to her in, like, a few weeks."

"Whatever you say, loverboy," Odd says and begins to tear into his potato. I sigh and open up my own potato.

"You gonna eat that?" Odd says in between bites.

"Yeah. No seconds from me," I say. After I'm done I crinkle up the aluminum foil and toss it at the trash can. It does a high arc before dropping in softly. "Impact." I smile and do a small fist pump.

"Dude, stop it!" Odd laughs.

"What? Do you not want me to talk about it?"

"No, cause I miss having fun! No Krabs or Mantas to blow up in this world," Odd says. I shake my head at "Odd the Magnificent". Sometimes I was shocked we managed to put up with each other for this long.

"Dude, you wanna come to the show tonight?" Odd asks me after dinner.

"I've already seen you skate a million times," I reply. "I'll go find something else to do."

"You do you," Odd says, and zips towards the ramps. I turn the other way and start walking back towards the dorm. On the way back I run into Jeremy and Aelita.

"Hey Ulrich," Aelita greets me.

"Hey," I answer. "What are y'all up to?"

"Oh nothing, just going for a walk since it's relatively nice out," Jeremy responds. "That is, before my calculations say the blizzard hits next week."

"Chill out, Einstein," I answer. "Check the weather like a normal person for once."

"Why would I when I get weather predictions on my laptop just like you get daily weather on your phone?" Jeremy responds, and Aelita giggles and takes his hand.

"See ya, Ulrich." She waves. I wave back to both of them and get back to my room. I'm restless and bored but I don't know why. I spend about an hour tossing a ball against the wall and letting Kiwi catch it. _Next year, I'll be on my way out,_ I think and grin. As I toss the ball repeatedly, I can't help but let my mind wander.

"I-It's been so great. I just don't want it to end," I say sadly.

"There'll be plenty of other good times, even without Lyoko." She smiles at me and holds my hands.

"Promise?" I ask. Even though I trust her, I can't help but feel doubt and worry.

"I swear." I see her small but confident smile as the light floods us, and I feel assured.

"Ugh," I sigh. I take the ball from Kiwi and throw it at the wall, making it bounce back and forth multiple times. Kiwi goes insane. _Kiwi's not the only one who's insane. She drives me insane._ Was her avoiding me a product of her personality or deliberately aimed at me? Maybe both? I bury my head in my hands. She's the only one I've ever had feelings for. I thought when I was first checking her out I was just being a hormonal teen, but I love everything about her. Well, except the part where she can go from treating me like near-boyfriend to thrusting me in the friendzone to giving me the cold shoulder just like that. _Next year, she'll be gone._ It hits me and I feel a wave of sadness wash over me. I sit back down and shake my head. I've conditioned myself to get used it over the years, but it still pains me. I decide to go put my mind to other things.

"Pierre?" I call. Pierre is my most consistent sparring partner since- since- you know, her and I created a cold wall.

"Hey Ulrich, what's up?"

"Nothing much, just wondering if you wanted to spar today?"

"Sorry man, I've got a lot of tests to study for tomorrow. Thanks though!" I hang up and scroll through my contacts.

"Fuck it," I mutter. "I'll just go beat up some bags." I pack everything in my bag and head for the gym and training room. I get changed and walk out to see Jim on the floor.

"What are you doing here, Jim?" I ask.

"Did you knock this bag off?" Jim shouts. I look to where he's pointing and sure enough, there's a bag detached from the ceiling and laying on the floor.

"No Jim, I just got here," I answer. Just then Mr. Delmas arrives.

"Yes, Jim? What did you need me for?" he asks.

"Someone knocked this bag off. One, that's mighty impressive if they managed it with their bare hands, but it doesn't matter cause two, they should be punished!"

"Calm down, Jim, it looks like it's one of these old bags anyway. It won't be expensive to replace." Jim shrugs.

"Well, I suppose you're right," he admits. Mr. Delmas nods and walks out. Jim takes a glance at me before lifting up the bag and walking out.

 _Strange,_ I think to myself. _Someone had to have been really pissed to be able to punch one of those bags out like that._ I get into my routine and just do some easy exercises and combos on the bag. I get bored quickly and try out some new kicks, but it just succeeds in me falling to the floor. I get up and brush myself off. _I remember when we used to spar all the time,_ I think. _It was a way for both of us to let out our frustration, and some alone time for us too._ I shake my head and launch a vicious kick towards the bag again. Pierre would be available sooner or later, and I could always train with him. Or I could… _forget it,_ a voice in my head said. _Even if you are meant for each other, what are you gonna do with a little more than half a year left?_ I sighed. I finished up my training and went back to the dorms.

"Where were you," Odd asks.

"Nowhere, just doing some training," I reply. Odd nods his head.

"Well, I already showered so you can go," he tells me. I nod and shower in addition to getting ready to sleep. _I miss being pinned by her. I'm glad she never noticed how hard I was or that would've been the end right there._ My thoughts are interrupted by people telling me to hurry up, and I get out quickly, dress and get back to the room. Odd is up playing video games but I start to fall asleep. I whisper "Yumi" before my eyes shut, and the last thing I hear is Odd snorting and laughing.


	3. Chapter 3: The First Step

**So I got bored and wrote two more chapters instead of studying. Also running on three hours of sleep. Will probably regret this decision within the next week. But enjoy. Review!**

* * *

 _Great. Middle of the week and I already feel like it's too long._ I walk to school already dreading another day of the same old lectures, the same people, the same Kadic Academy. _I need to bust up some hornets or something,_ I think. It's been too long since I've been in a real fight, and I'm pretty sure my skills are rusty. Sure, spars are one thing, but you aren't trying to kill your opponent in them. Then again, with the world saved, I'm not sure I'll need these skills again…

"Hey Yumi!" I turn around as a blonde boy with a purple spot in the middle waves at me. "What's up?"

"Nothing much Odd, not failing my classes that's for sure," I smirk.

"Still got plenty of sass in your tank for sure," Odd comments. "Wanna see how far it can go?"

"What do you mean?" I ask.

"I was thinking we could get the gang back together. It has been a couple months. What do you say? Friday night bowling? You can make all the snarky comments you want once you beat everyone."

"Uh…" I'm unsure. I would like to have a big gathering again like the beginning of the year, but it would mean having to see him… "Sure. I'm in." I say abruptly.

"Awesome! I'll ask the others to come. Bye now!" Odd skates off to class and I turn and walk.

The morning goes swimmingly, I drift through classes, and before I know it it's lunchtime. Spaghetti and meatballs. _I can already see Odd looking like he got attacked by noodles,_ I think and laugh to myself. The line is long today and I internally groan. Then I feel a tap on my shoulder.

"Yumi?" I turn around. It's Ulrich.

"Uh, hey Ulrich," I say sheepishly. "You're, uh, not with Odd?"

"I do have other friends, you know," he says. "Like…" He almost says the word "you" but stops and then lists some other people's names. I feel a pang of guilt.

"Well, are you coming to this gathering Friday night?" I ask.

"Uh, yeah," he answers. "Are you?"

"Yeah, I think so," I say. I see a flash of disappointment cross his face. _Dammit, why am I never as good at reading other people as I am at reading him?_

"Well, uh, see you there," Ulrich says awkwardly.

"What will it be?" the lunch lady bellows. I turn and look. Welp, there goes another conversation.

"Spaghetti and meatballs," I answer and she drops a scoop on my tray. I walk away and try to find a place to sit but I can't concentrate.

"Yumi? Yumi?" I snap to my senses. It's William. "Are you looking for a place to sit?"

"Uh, yeah, I am."

"You're welcome here." I sit down across from him. It's just him.

"What's up?" he asks nonchalantly. I shrug but he can tell something's wrong. "Is it Ulrich?" My non-response gives him the answer. "Listen, I really think you should stop avoiding him," he advises. "He doesn't mean any harm. All he wants to do is…"

"Get in my pants?" I snap. William looks at me with a confused expression.

"Uh, no, I don't know where you got that impression from," he says. "It's clear he likes you but he's confused by the fact that you won't let him in."

"I don't know what's wrong with me." I sigh exasperatedly and take a bite of a meatball.

"There's nothing wrong with you," William says. "That's just how you are. You like to be independent and rely on yourself. But sometimes you have to make exceptions for exceptional people." I roll my eyes at his bad philosophical quote. He sighs.

"Listen, I think you need to let out how you truly feel. Everything. Whether that's through writing, in person, whatever. You don't have to tell him but I think letting it out will make you feel better." I think about it.

"Whatever, I'll give it a shot," I say after a few seconds. "But I'm not showing or telling him anything."

"Fine. Just know it's always better out than in." William gets up to dump his tray and I stare at my food. Writing in a diary always seemed corny and worthless to me. But I guess it was better than the alternative…

"Ishiyama! Straighten your back!" _Oh, can it Jim,_ I think. I don't remotely care about gym class, given that I get exercise from sparring anyway, but I have to at least make it look like I'm trying.

"Good. Now that we're sufficiently warmed up, it's time for today's activity," Jim announces. It's a rock climbing wall. Nothing too difficult. "Who wants to go first?" Jim asks, peering at the crowd of uninterested students. "Yumi! You look eager to go!" I don't particularly want to but don't care if I go either. I strap in and start climbing. I hear some guys muttering about my ass as I climb. I tune them out and keep climbing. _Why did I turn him away again? Why am I so stupid? I don't even know how he feels about me anymore. The last few months the rift has grown wider than ever before. I don't even remember how or why it started._ I'm taking my leisurely time until I hear Jim yell at me to go faster. I roll my eyes and quickly scale the rest of the wall.

"Humph, I bet I can beat Yumi's time," Sissi pipes up. I snicker.

"Well, have a go at it, Delmas." Jim straps her in and lets her start climbing. The whole class explodes into laughter as she slips on the second rock and starts crying hysterically, saying she's going to die. _Well, maybe that will cheer me up,_ I think to myself.


	4. Chapter 4: Who is She?

_Dammit! Not again!_ I think. I let out a loud sigh as I slump down next to Odd.

"What's the matter?" Odd asks. "If it's the spaghetti I'll gladly take it off your hands."

"Yumi," I muttered. Odd lets out a little giggle before I cut him off with a glare.

"Dude, you've been down in the dumps." Odd raises his fork and plunges it into the spaghetti to match the word "down". "Mind telling me what's going on between you two? Why aren't you married yet?"

"It's more complicated than that, Odd," I reply. "You wouldn't know because you never get any girls."

"Hey, why is everyone attacking me today?" he retorts. "Anyways, sourface, what's going on?"

"Our separation has grown bigger," I mutter. "Before we were just kind of friends. Now this year rolls by and all of a sudden we can't even talk to each other that often anymore."

"Hey, it's natural. She's in Year 12, right? She's got a lot more to worry about than just school." Odd slurps a long noodle into his mouth.

"I suppose. But that still doesn't explain everything. I can't read her."

"You're right on that one! Girls are harder to read than my textbooks!" Odd flings a meatball in the air with his fork and catches it in his mouth. I eye Yumi in the corner of my vision.

"She's sitting with William." Even though I know that William and her never were and never will be a thing, I still feel a hot rush of jealousy.

"Dude, you're about to graduate next year and you still can't hide when you're jealous?" Odd chuckles. "Reading you is like reading a comic book!"

"Shut up," I retort. "I don't usually act this way."

"You're right about that one too. Maybe I should start calling _you_ Einstein." Odd gets up to go get seconds. I shake my head. Odd is right about one thing: girls are harder to read than textbooks. Maybe even XANA can't figure them out. I chuckle at that one.

"Hi-yah!" I flip over Pierre as he kicks towards me. I rush him and we exchange blows. I predict Pierre's kick and grab his ankle, lifting him up and throwing him down on the mat.

"Alright, you win this time," Pierre says as I pull him up. We fist bump each other on a good training session when I hear the door open behind me.

"Uh." Yumi's standing in the doorway behind me. "Um, are you guys finished?"

"Oh yeah yeah, sure, use the room for whatever you want." Pierre grins sheepishly and nods.

"Uh, Pierre, could you leave? I want to do some extra training," I say. Yumi's eyes widen. Pierre looks at me, nods and then leaves. I turn to face Yumi.

"Sorry for interrupting," she apologizes.

"Uh-no worries. We were done," I say. She makes a small grunt of understanding.

"I wasn't planning on having a partner," she says distantly.

"Well, how else do you expect to get better?"

"I don't train with twerps like you."

"What did you say?" I was having trouble believing what I was hearing. I looked at her in confusion and anger. She immediately blushes and turns away.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," she says quickly. "I didn't mean that. It's just…ugh. I've been a wreck lately." _This isn't the Yumi I know at all,_ I think. _Her? Emotional wreck? Maybe that's why she's been so distant to me._

"Uh, um, it's ok I guess," I stammer. She sighs and kicks a bag. It's only then I notice the wrap on her hand. "Yumi? What'd you do to your hand?" I ask.

"It was an accident." She brushes off her injury.

"Yumi, tell me what happened," I plead. She nods towards the bags. I remembered Jim carrying out a broken one a few days ago.

"That was you who broke the bag?" I ask.

"Do you wanna fight or not?" she suddenly scowls.

"Yumi, your hand is injured," I say. "You shouldn't be training in this condition, much less sparring."

"I'll use my feet only," she snaps. My brain processes it for a moment before I resign and agree to spar. We spar for a few minutes. Yumi is still tricky and strong as ever even when only using her feet. I take special care not to aim towards her hand or areas her hand is near. Eventually I'm able to predict her pattern of kicks. I block her kick with my arm and then sweep her other leg. She falls down on the mat and I pin her.

For a moment we're both winding down from the heat of the fight. Then I stare into her brown eyes. The look of mixed feelings, of uncertainty. I feel my face get hot. Yumi's face starts to get red too, or is that just me imagining? I can feel the tension building up and I finally roll over onto my back as well, still breathing deeply. Yumi sits up and looks over at me. I hold her gaze before she breaks it and gets up.

"Yumi, wait!" She's already sprinting into the locker room. I facepalm. I think back to our first spar…how it ended the same way.

"Well? Call it a tie?"

"Sure. But we better get going. My friends are wondering where I am. I'm sure your friends are wondering too."

"I don't have any friends."

 _I don't have any friends._ I let out a roar of frustration and try to forget the quote from my mind. I almost contemplate beating a bag but then remember that that's how Yumi was injured. I go back to my room and dive face-first into my bed, exhausted.


	5. Chapter 5: A Heart-to-Heart

_What's gotten into you?_ I scold myself, sitting down on the bench in the locker room. _How could you act this rude to him?_ I shake my head and throw my towel against the wall. I'd been shocked and unprepared to see Ulrich when I came to train. And now I'd offended and possibly alienated him on top of that. My emotions had spilled over out of my head and into reality. The hurt, anger, longing, confusion, regret. _Why am I like this all of a sudden? Maybe the moment is too real. Maybe I finally do realize that I've squandered the last three years and it's coming to an end._ I get dressed and head back home.

I look at everyone chilling, walking, and chatting. Curfew's not for another half hour. I get frustrated merely seeing the fact that everyone is happy. _How come they never have any problems?_ I complain. I walk past the library on my way back and run into Aelita. She's holding a few books she just checked out.

"Hey Yumi!" she exclaims cheerily.

"Hi," I answer blandly.

"Hmm?" Aelita says. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, Aelita. Leave me alone." I start walking faster before she grabs my shoulder.

"Yumi, don't push me away," she pleads. "You can talk to me about it."

"Ugh," I groan. "I'd rather not."

"Yumi, I'm your friend." Aelita looks me in the eyes. "I know that you like living your life alone but even the most amazing people need help sometimes. What's bothering you?"

"Him," I mutter. Aelita looks confused for a second, and then understands.

"Let's head back to my room," she says.

After calling my parents and telling them I'll be home late due to studying I go with Aelita to her room. Somehow after all these years she still hasn't had a roommate. I would consider that fantastic, but maybe she thinks differently.

"I know you two have been on awkward terms the past few years," Aelita begins. "But it seems like you've been pushing him away recently. And now you're upset. What's changed?"

"Life, I guess," I sigh. "We have a little more than half a year left. And our relationship hasn't worked out at all. It doesn't make any sense to me, we have a lot in common. I just don't know why I keep pushing him away."

"Maybe you're afraid," Aelita suggests. "You're afraid of change, of dependence. You think it'll make you weak, or not allow you to have freedom."

"I'm not afraid," I insist.

"Yumi, it's been three years since we all thought you two had taken a turn for the better. And you just settled in as the same old, same old. You know Ulrich is a good guy, why can't you bring yourself to accept him?"

"I don't know. I don't know whether I have an issue with myself or him. He's just so mercurial sometimes. He'll be jealous and then the next moment pretend it's okay."

"Sounds like someone I know," Aelita remarks sarcastically. I shoot her a glare. She smiles and looks at me.

"Yumi, remember when I was first materialized and I didn't know my way around the real world? You helped me around not only this school but also real life." I nod. "Then there was that day that I was frustrated. I thought nobody was going to help me. You all were busy. Sissi told me to go home and I did. I virtualized myself back into Lyoko."

"And? What's your point? We saved you and convinced you to stay."

"That is the point, Yumi. I've been alone all my life, but not by choice. I was thrown into a new world and I wanted to give up several times and return to Lyoko. But I had a great group of friends and I kept trying, and now I feel at home here."

"They're different situations," I argue. "You had to literally deal with the weight of the world on your shoulders. I'm just in a stupid high school drama."

"But you haven't given up yet," Aelita reminds me. "You're still holding on to something."

"And?"

Aelita shakes her head. "You really can be stubborn sometimes. Why not just give it a shot? You've been holding on all these years, thinking you're waiting for the right moment or when you'll be ready. Why not just bury all those doubts and go for it? If you've held on for this long you have to truly feel special about him."

"Not everyone can have it as easy as you and Jeremy," I say. "You two are as close to 'love at first sight' as can be."

"You're both strong willed people, Yumi," Aelita explains. "That's something I love about both of you, but it can hurt you too. You're repelling each other because you don't want to take that risk. Jeremy was like that too when we were playing the game you're playing now. He was afraid of the unknown and exposing his flaws. It's one thing to be fearless when fighting monsters and possessed people, but a whole different thing to be fearless in trying to build relationships with people."

"So how come you aren't that way?" I ask.

"I never said I wasn't," Aelita replies. "I was scared too. But I just know this since I like to observe how people behave. It's quite different from running around in Lyoko."

"Hmm," I say. For someone who only lived in the real world in fragmented stretches, Aelita sure has matured. "Thanks for the advice, Aelita."

"I try my best. Good luck!" She gives me a hug. I smile and hug her back. "Don't forget to come Friday night!" she calls as I walk out of the room. Oh shoot. Friday night.

My thoughts are interrupted by footsteps. I turn around and it's Jim.

"What are you doing, Yumi?" he scolds. "Aren't you supposed to be home?"

"Sorry Jim, I was just finishing up some studying," I reply hurriedly.

"Year 12 and you still don't know the rules? Nobody leaves their room or enters another room after curfew, no exceptions. Now get home!" I roll my eyes and quickly leave. I decide to walk through the park to get back faster.

It's a beautiful night with clear skies and a bright crescent moon. _We're going to meet up again, just like old times,_ I think. _That hasn't happened since the beginning of the year. We've all gone our separate ways._ Jeremy and Aelita are both academically inclined and love learning. Odd hasn't changed much but has been meeting new people like him. Even though William's not a part of our group I've kept tabs on him. He's been channeling his artistic side while still managing to be as popular as ever. And Ulrich…well, he's like me. Just stay in the flow of things and don't draw attention to yourself.

I'm near the edge of the park. I cross outside and get onto the street. I've never really felt completely like a part of this group. I'm one year older than everyone else. I was the only girl until Aelita was materialized. Hell, I was even taller than everyone else until Ulrich and Odd hit their growth spurts. _But have they ever tried to push you away?_ The voice in my head asks. _No,_ I answer. _They've accepted me for who I am. We've stuck together even through all the bullshit with XANA and normal high school problems._ I smile as I get to my house. _And that's what I love about them._

* * *

 **I promise the sappiness/corniness will end, at least temporarily, next chapter. I too am impatient to get them back together but I also want the start of it to be something meaningful and genuine and not some temporary thing like the show flirts with way too often. I'll also probably start writing in some action too once all this is resolved.**


	6. Chapter 6: Bowling!

**I really should be studying instead of writing long ass chapters like this. Introducing Aelita's POV for the first time. I really want to start writing action but I also want Ulrich and Yumi to finally be together. #conflict Enjoy, and review!**

* * *

She walks towards me, smiling. The sun glows with the red glow of sunset and washes over us.

"We'll make it for real this time, right?" I ask.

"We will."

"I'll always stick with you, Yumes."

"As will I, Ulrich." We share a hug and a kiss and I wave as she walks toward the gate. She turns around to look one last time and-she has blonde hair.

"Hey! Wake up!" My eyes shoot open and I see Odd standing over me. "Get your butt out of bed, it's Friday!" Odd pumps his arms in the air. "End of the week, got a bunch of skating shows this weekend, and the gang's back together for some bowling tonight!" I get up and groan. One more day of school and then-tonight. It's not that I don't like hanging out with the group. Rather it's the elephant in the room. We haven't spoken or seen each other since that training two days ago. I don't hold anything against her but I am hoping she's doing okay.

Morning classes are a breeze. Or maybe they just went by because I didn't pay attention. At lunch I sit with Odd and his friends.

"Hey Odd, I bet you can't even do a 360 ollie kickflip," one of them taunts. It's Jude. He's Year 12 and is into all kinds of extreme sports.

"Oh yeah? Let's duel this weekend," Odd retorts. He reaches his hand out to shake and they shake on it. The rest of his friends ooh and aah in anticipation.

"You coming to the show this weekend, Ricky?" Jude asks me.

"Uh, we'll see. I might," I answer.

"What's the matter? Caught up with that girl of yours? It's chill man, I understand," Jude says.

"We're not dating."

"Why the hell not man? Pull the trigger!" Jude urges. His friends ooh and start chanting, "Do it! Do it!"

"Quiet down over there!" Jim yells.

"Shut up you guys," I say angrily.

"You wanna go, Ulrich?" it's Odd. He looks at me knowingly. I'm shocked he's done with his food already, in a record amount of time. I nod and we go dump our trays.

"Hey, I'm gonna need our room for a little while after class this afternoon, ok?" Odd says suddenly.

"Uh, sure I guess," I answer, not really knowing what Odd is thinking.

"Perfect! I'll tell you when I'm done and then we can go meet the others tonight." Odd grins and skates off to class. "Bye now!" I wave at him and walk on. I shrug and go to class, butterflies still in my stomach from the anticipation of tonight.

* * *

I get a call. My eyes glance over the screen and it's Odd. Classes have just ended and I was planning to meet Jeremy at the library. I pick up.

"Hey Aelita! What's up?" a cheerful voice answers.

"Nothing much, Odd, headed to the library," I reply. "You?"

"Are you and Jeremy busy right now?" he asks.

"Well, we were planning on doing some studying at the library. What do you need us for?"

"You know how we're going bowling tonight?"

"Uh, yeah," I say. "Jeremy doesn't particularly want to come. I've told you that."

"One, tell him to get us lazy ass over there! How can it be a reunion without all of us? And two, I need both your guys' help with something."

"What do you need help with?"

"Bring Jeremy and come to my room and we'll talk."

"Hm," I wonder. I walk into the library and find Jeremy.

"Hey," he says. "Ready to read up on the Puritans of America?"

"Not now, Jeremy. Odd wants us to meet him in his room."

"Huh? For what?" Jeremy looks bewildered.

"I'm not sure. He just said to come." Jeremy shrugs and agrees to come. We ride our scooters over to the dorm and knock on Odd's door.

"Bout time you showed up!" Odd opens the door and lets us in. Kiwi is scratching his head with his leg on Odd's bed. We sit on the other bed.

"What did you wanna talk about?" Jeremy asks.

"Well, if you'll notice I haven't invited two of our group members," Odd proclaims. "And that is the reason for our meeting."

"I don't get it," Jeremy says, but I understand. "What about them?"

"Well, they've been in love for as long as this group's been together and Ol' Ricky's been a grump lately."

"So has Yumi," I agree.

"Something's clearly not right. And I think that tonight is the perfect time to help sort that out."

"What are you saying?" Jeremy asks. "Why are we getting involved in their issues?" Odd's face turns dark.

"Listen, Jeremy," he says seriously. "Ulrich and Yumi are both my friends and I want them to be happy. I want them to be together. And I think they just need that little push before they get the ball rolling downhill."

"Sounds like a good idea," I say. "What do you propose we do? A bowling alley isn't exactly the best of places to have serious discussions."

"You're right," Odd says. "I've got the ditching part down easy. I've got a million excuses I can make for all of us. The hard part is leading them to a place they can talk!"

"Maybe a bookstore?" Jeremy suggests.

"Nah, too nerdy," Odd laughs. "They would get kicked out the moment one of them raises their voice too."

"How about the park?" I say. "We don't have to go near the sewer entrance or the Hermitage, but how about the side that faces the city?"

"Sounds like a good plan," Odd says. "You two can leave right after and do whatever lovey-dovey stuff you want. I'll say I want ice cream or something and lead them there. Then I'll say something else and voila! They'll be alone."

"I don't know how I feel about this," Jeremy worries. "We shouldn't be getting involved in their business. I didn't even know they still were in the same place!"

"Jeremy, that's what we've been doing the last five years or so," Odd responds. "We're running out of time. And I think they're meant for each other."

"Okay, but I wanna leave right after. I have to study for exams."

"Exams are in a week bro, chill out." Odd lofts a ball lazily in the air. "Besides, why are you studying with your 99.87 grade average?"

"I like learning."

"I like learning too, but even I know when to stop," I chuckle.

"Alright, that's settled then," Odd says. "You two go off and be lovebirds. Meet you tonight!" We leave and head back to Jeremy's room.

"What's happened between them?" Jeremy asks me.

"They're both feeling stressed out," I explain. "I'd advise you not to provoke them."

"Easier said than done. I feel like they'd explode if I accidentally bumped one of them!" Jeremy flips open his laptop and starts typing. "Kinda weird how they still haven't figured it out. I remember Ulrich eyeing Yumi when we were in 7th grade!"

"We were like that too at one point," I remind him. "Everyone has to go on their own path."

"I suppose," he says. "But we liked each other from the start!"

"So did they," I say. "Even when William thickened things Yumi always stuck with her heart. And that's not easy to do. William's in her grade, has a knack for art, and isn't bad-looking either."

"This is why I didn't get involved with girls," Jeremy sighs. He's typing complex code for his newest program for improving online shopping and delivery.

"Do you ever regret getting involved?" I ask nonchalantly. He looks up.

"Uh, no, not at all." He starts to blush. I giggle and walk up to him, giving him a kiss on the cheek.

"Good, I'm glad."

* * *

A half hour before I have to meet at the bowling alley. I dig through my wardrobe, trying to find something suitable to wear.

"What's the matter?" Odd asks. "You look like you're finding something to wear at a wedding." I glare at him and keep looking. "Whoops, sorry for asking." I finally decide I'm just going to wear regular clothes. She'll probably be closed off anyway. Not like she's the type to care either.

Odd and I skate to the alley. Jeremy and Aelita are already there, early as usual.

"Alright, this means we got everybody but Yumi," Odd proclaims. I mash the butterflies in my stomach. We wait around. I kick some rocks around as Jeremy and Aelita discuss some programming stuff. Odd is eating some sushi out of a plastic box. A few minutes later, Yumi arrives out of breath.

"Sorry I'm late, guys," she says. "Had some stuff at home to take care of." She takes a look at Odd's sushi. "You know all of that is imitation, right?"

"Food is food," Odd responds. He opens the box and swallows the rest of the rolls, burps and throws the box away. Yumi winces. I snicker before my eyes settle on Yumi's. We exchange a glance for a moment before I let go and look at Odd. He's ordering games.

"Ok, y'all, here's the deal," Odd says. "We get two games but if you want to buy more that's cool. I'm going first, then Jeremy and Aelita will go, and then Yumi and Ulrich." I think the order isn't just a coincidence.

"How do you bowl?" Aelita asks. We all stare at her. "You know, guys, despite the fact I've been on Earth for this long, I've still actually never done this before."

"Easy!" Odd exclaims. "Take a ball and roll it down the alley. You get two chances to knock all the pins down. If you knock them all down on the first ball it's a strike! Whoever has the highest score at the end of the game wins!" Odd takes a ball, winds up, rolls it and it goes flying into the gutter.

"Hahaha!" Aelita and Jeremy start laughing. Yumi smirks and I snicker.

"Just getting warmed up, guys," Odd protests. He takes another ball, rolls it, and it goes into the gutter again.

"No points for you Odd," I comment.

"Just you wait, Ulrich!"

Jeremy goes next, wielding a small kids size ball. He manages to knock down five pins in two tries. Aelita is a little more successful than him, getting seven. Then Yumi goes.

"Yumi, are you sure you can bowl? Your hand is still injured," Aelita says. She smiles.

"No worries, Aelita," she says. "Learning how to do stuff left-handed actually helps you out when you're fully recovered." She inspects the balls from the rack and finally settles on one. Her first attempt goes into the gutter but her second goes straight down the middle and knocks down nine.

"Wow, good one Yumi!" Odd exclaims. "Bet you can't beat that Ulrich!"

"I sure as hell can beat your score," I snap, and Jeremy and Aelita laugh. Yumi glances at me with a look of interest. I pick a ball and look over at the pins at the end. _Just don't mess this up like Odd,_ I tell myself. I roll it as hard as I can. The ball spins viciously down the middle and collides with the pins. Strike.

"Damn, Ulrich!" Odd yells. "Slow down there!"

"Great shot, Ulrich!" Aelita compliments. I walk past Yumi on my way back to my seat.

"Your move," I smirk. _What's gotten into me? She's about to explode so hard at me._ But instead, she just looks up and smirks back.

"I'll beat you any day, strong hand or not."

"You're on." I get bored of watching the others bowl. Odd is a hit or miss on whether he'll even bowl the ball into the pins, and Jeremy and Aelita both struggle. Yumi's up again. We're tied with four rounds left. She does badly on the first throw, hitting three pins, but makes up for it with a spare.

"Humph," she taunts. "You're up."

"Thanks," I reply. I get up and throw it down the middle like usual, hitting eight pins. All that's left are the two on the side. I whiff badly on my next throw, throwing the ball in the complete opposite direction.

"You like the taste of gutter, Ulrich? Join the club," Odd remarks. I shake my head.

"You can do better than that," Yumi tells me. "I'm disappointed."

"Just you wait."

It comes down to the final frame. Odd has a score of 48 and is out. Jeremy and Aelita each have scores in the 30s. I'm at 180 and Yumi's at 199. It's all between us. My last roll.

"Hey Ulrich, you gotta get two strikes to beat Yumi," Odd reminds me.

"I know, Odd," I say, concentrating. I roll the first one and it's good. My friends clap, all except Yumi, who's watching me intently. My extra try looks good. I stare at the ball rolling, rolling… it hits nine pins. I've tied with Yumi.

"Aw man, how anticlimactic!" Odd exclaims. "Well, good game everyone!"

"Great job you all," Aelita says, smiling.

"I think I sprained a muscle!" Jeremy complains. Aelita punches him softly in his arm. "Ow! Hey!"

"Suck it up, some physical exercise once in a while is good." Odd laughs and starts putting the balls back. I look at Yumi. She extends her left hand.

"Good job," she says. I do the awkward handshake with my left hand.

"You too, bowling left handed," I say. "Impressive." She smiles a small smile and nods.

"I think Jeremy and I are done," Aelita says.

"Wait, but then I wasted my money!" Odd exclaims. "We've still got another game!"

"You guys can bowl for us," Aelita tells him.

"Eh, that'd be boring. Let's just all go."

"Aelita and I are going to go study," Jeremy tells us as they walk out. "Thanks for planning this, Odd! We had fun!" Odd waves at them as they leave. It was true. Even though I had been caught up in the competitiveness of the game, we did have chats about school, life, and other random things during the game. But it was never Yumi and I talking at the same time.

"Alright, you two, wanna go get ice cream?" Odd asks us. I look at Yumi. She nods.

"Sure, sounds good."

"Uh, yeah, sure," I say. I can't tell what Odd is thinking. Is he doing this on purpose? Nah, he's not sophisticated enough for that. Or is he?

We walk for a few minutes until both of us realize what's going on.

"Odd, this is the wrong direction," Yumi says. "The ice cream parlor is the other way. We're in the park now."

"And why are you carrying your skateboard? You could've just left it locked in at the bowling alley," I add. Odd laughs nervously.

"Haha, I'm absentminded sometimes," Odd says. "But I'm hungry. And I'm not waiting for you two. Besides, you got some catching up to do. Toodles!" Odd hops on and skates off in the other direction. I sigh. Yumi looks at me.

"Well?" she says expectantly. I stare at her.

"That bastard," I mutter.

"We were going to have to sort this out eventually anyway." The firmness in her voice surprises me.

"Do you wanna talk and walk?"

"Sure, let's do it." We make our way into the park.

"No sparring for the last few months? Avoiding me on campus?" Each question I ask I get angrier.

"I've been dealing with a lot."

"That's what you say every time you end our conversations! Tell me how you really feel!"

"Ulrich, please," she says calmly. "I'll admit that it's my fault I haven't been telling you the whole truth. But just let me tell you how I've been feeling."

"Fine." I look at her, waiting for her to start.

"It's been a rough year for me, obviously. It's my last year here, and even though I say how much I hate it, it's been a home for me. It's gonna suck leaving you guys, and leaving so many memories behind. On top of that there's this special boy who I can't decide how I truly feel about."

"Why so long?" I ask. "You promised me three years ago. It's still been the same old. We get jealous at each other and avoid talking about this."

"You're not the most workable human being either, Ulrich," she replies. "I want to punch you every time you try to pretend you're not jealous or avoid me because you're salty I'm with someone else."

"I don't know why you keep shutting me out," I answer. "Do you know how pissed I was when William came into our lives? You've seen me act but you can't even understand how much it affected me."

"William is a thing of the past, and so is everything else."

"Then why are we still cold with each other? Why is there still a rift between us?" As I say this Yumi stops. I see tears start to form in her eyes.

"I'm afraid, Ulrich," she cries. "You'll be let down if you get to truly know me. Right now you just see me as independent and tough. But the only reason for that is because I've never had anyone to rely on!" She sits down on a rock and buries her head in her hands. I'm shocked, unable to do anything. I eventually sit down next to her.

"I'm not perfect either, Yumi," I say softly. "You've probably lost track of the times I've done stupid shit just to impress you or win you back. I want someone to love me too. My dad thinks I'm a failure and my mom can't really do anything."

"We're both afraid," she says. She's stopped crying. "We're both afraid of what will happen if we commit to each other and live each other's lives."

"I'm not afraid," I insist. "All this time I've liked you, Yumi."

"You're afraid too," she says back. "Every time you got jealous that should've been a cue for you to tell me your true feelings. But you never do since you're always waiting for me to pull you in. But I never wanted to pull you in either." I sit in deep thought, staring straight ahead. Yumi glances at me and then stares ahead too.

"We have a little more than six months left," I think aloud. She nods.

"This'll probably be the last six months we have," she says sadly. I look at her.

"How about we make the most of it?" I say softly. I take her injured hand and softly run my hands over it. It's almost healed but she still tenses a little.

"If we will then I want us to have real love. Something meaningful. Not this bullshit that Sissi always goes after." She looks me in the eyes.

"We've chased each other in circles for five years," I chuckle. "We had to have felt something meaningful."

"I need time to think over it," she tells me. "Would you like to meet tomorrow night?"

"Uh-yeah, sure," I say.

"How does dinner sound?" she asks. "At that new place in the city."

"Uh, yeah, yeah, sure," I say awkwardly. _Goddammit, here you are at it again. Just say yes firmly._ "Is this a date?" I blurt out. She rolls her eyes.

"It's whatever you want it to be, Romeo," she remarks sarcastically.

"I'll be there," I say.

"Good. See you tomorrow." Before I know it she comes in and plants a kiss on my cheek, and then walks away. I stand there for a few minutes, staring at the full moon. _Is this finally it?_ I wonder. _Have we finally turned the corner?_


	7. Chapter 7: The Date

**Warning: high cheese alert. Do not read if lactose-intolerant. I promise after this it'll just be all cute Ulrich and Yumi moments and then finally some action. Also, this is probably the last chapter I'll upload for a couple weeks. And please leave more reviews! Enjoy!**

* * *

I toss and turn all night. Thankfully it's the weekend or else I would have slept in my classes the next day. This week has been going too fast. From all my thoughts and flashbacks to our span of awkward encounters to yesterday, it's been a wilder week than any XANA-filled one. I've never felt this much internal conflict. _Are we even official? What makes this time different?_ I try to compose myself and sort my thoughts. _I'll think through it in the morning. And then I have to meet him tonight. It'll all be good, right?_

"Yumi! Wake uppppp!" Hiroki shouts through the door. I bat an eye open. "Yumi! Get up, Mom says you have to clean your room today!" I roll over and glance at the clock.

"11:38? Jeez, gotta get going," I mumble. I throw on some clothes and head downstairs.

"Yumi, what were you doing last night?" Dad asks. "You must have been up to no good to wake up this late."

"Uh, nothing, Dad," I say sheepishly. "I just slept in, cuz, you know, it's the weekend." My dad eyes me for a moment and then decides to let it go.

"By nothing she means dreaming of Ulrich," Hiroki interrupts.

"Hiroki, I would've expected you to grow up more by now." I let out a small sigh and get some breakfast.

"Come on, Yumi. At least you didn't deny it this time." I shrug.

"I will neither confirm nor deny."

"Ooh! It's official now!" Hiroki shouts. "Hey Mom, Dad! Yumi's dating Ulrich!"

"Quiet down, Hiroki," my mom tells him. "We've heard enough of your antics every day. Go clean your room." I laugh to myself. I feel like I've almost become a new person in the last 12 hours. It was strangely liberating to express my feelings, in a way. Maybe William was right.

I set some books back in place and fold my clothes. Not really much to do since I usually remember to put everything back where it came from in my room. My eyes glance over the picture that Odd drew for me. He's been drawing pictures of the squad for everyone's birthday ever since his drawing for Jeremy, and he's been pretty good at it. I notice Ulrich's hand peeking out on my shoulder, and out of everyone in the group we're drawn the closest together. "Classic Odd," I say to myself. I sit down at my desk and look out the window.

I want to make this work. I'm ready to turn a new corner. I love Ulrich Stern, and I'm not hiding from it anymore. Outside, the last of the leaves on the trees fall as winter creeps closer. Soon I'll be off to college. The admissions week isn't for another month. _What does Ulrich want to do?_ I wonder. I realize I've never paid attention to his career aspirations either. The most I know is that he has an idealist and strict father who he doesn't aspire to be like. At least he raised his grades after we destroyed XANA for good.

"Yumi?" there's a knock at the door. I get up and turn around.

"Yes?"

"It's your mother. Can I come in?"

"Sure, mom." My mom opens the door and walks in, sitting down on my bed.

"Honey, how is life going? Is everything at school okay?"

"Uh, sure Mom, it's the same as usual. Why?"

"Are you still hanging out with that group of friends of yours?"

"Yes, Mom, we've been friends since middle school." My mom's really starting to sound like Ulrich's dad.

"Well, I really think you should reach out more."

"Mom, you know that's not my style."

"You'll be off to university next year and you'll have to make a new group of friends. How will you manage?"

"I'll figure it out somehow." I wave my hands dismissively.

"Why has Hiroki still not stopped chirping about this Ulrich?" My mom asks. "Every day since he's gone to Kadic it's been Ulrich this, Ulrich that."

"Hiroki's just being immature. He'll grow up eventually."

"My dear, do you have a relationship with Ulrich?"

"Uh, no Mom, we're just good friends," I say nervously. I know my parents are opposed to dating.

"Well, dear, normally I would be happy because you should focus on your studies. But since it is your last year, if you wish to get romantically involved I won't be opposed to it." I can't believe what my mom is saying.

"Mom, are you sure about this?"

"Yes, honey. But if it distracts you too much or it becomes your life I won't allow it anymore."

"Wow. Thanks Mom!" my mother smiles and walks out the door. A little strange of her to bring that up suddenly, but I wasn't complaining.

My next order of business was to figure out how to dress for tonight. I pull my drawers open one at a time. Black, black, black. I pull open the drawer where I store my non-black clothes. Just sweats and other random clothes.

"Screw it," I say to myself. "Better to look classy in black than look weird in other colors." I pull out a bunch of different outfits I could wear. I try on a simple black dress with lace. "Too tacky," I mutter as I eye myself in the mirror. I throw on a skirt and a black V-neck. "Eh, could be better." I go on for an hour indecisively. I finally settle on a long sleeve shirt and a short black dress.

"Where are you going so dressed up?" My dad asks.

"Just going to a little party with my friends," I lie. He furrows his brow.

"Don't stay out too late or drink," he warns me.

"I won't, Dad, I promise." I say goodbye to him and walk to town. I check my phone. It's 6:35 and we said we would meet at 7. _Perfect, just enough time to get there with minutes to spare._ I open my conversation with Ulrich. "Are you coming?" I text. A few seconds later he texts back, "On my way." "See you there!" I text back.

"Hey, watch where you're going!" I bump into someone and look up from my phone. It's Sissi.

"What are you doing out here, Sissi?" I ask.

"I could ask the same question for you, string bean."

"Sissi, we agreed not to call each other names a long time ago."

"Fine, you're right. Are you going to see Ulrich?" she looks at me suspiciously.

"Not at all, just going with the rest of the dork crew to see a movie," I reply coolly.

"You guys are so weird. But I guess you treat me nice so I don't care. I'm off to explore the city with Herb since Daddy let me go without him for the first time."

"Have fun!" She lets out a "humph" and walks past me. "Oh Sissi, never change," I say amusedly.

I get to the corner the restaurant is on. Ulrich's standing there, leaning against a light pole with his hands in his pockets. He's wearing a polo button down shirt and gray dress pants. He cracks a small smile as I walk up to him.

"What a shocker. You're never early."

"I had to be early for a special night." I blush.

"Look at you, dropping the corny lines already."

"You ever notice you always talk fast when you're nervous around me?"

"Huh?" It was true, I realized. I did and I still do. I formulate a quick response.

"Look at you, acting all cool. Guess puberty hit awkward Ulrich hard. No more squeaky voice, being afraid to talk to me, hiding in your room and seething." He frowns.

"Alright, we're tied," he says. "Are you ready to go in?" I nod and walk into the restaurant as he holds the door for me.

"Got some gentleman tips from William, I see," I remark.

"Don't bring him up. Let's not kill each other before we even eat."

"We're the two sassiest and most independent people at the Academy. Guess that spells trouble." We both laugh at that and get seated.

"Something to drink?" the waiter arrives shortly. He's a young man with styled-up hair and a mouth full of perfect teeth.

"I'll have a water, thanks," Ulrich says. He turns to me.

"And for you, good lady?" he says, winking.

"Just a water, too," I answer. I glance over at Ulrich and see him seething a little. The waiter leaves.

"Relax, Ulrich, that's just how he acts," I say. "Are you really still getting jealous?"

"What? No, not at all!" he stammers. I giggle.

"Never change, Ulrich." I take a look at the menu. "There are so many options, I don't know how to choose!"

"Unfortunately Odd isn't here, he'd be able to provide some expertise."

"I've never eaten French food that often," I comment. Ulrich looks at me confusedly.

"Uh, Yumi, we live in France."

"I know. But I eat breakfast and dinner at home and school food for lunch."

"Eh. Take your time." I nod and start looking through the menu. _It's kind of amazing how quickly we got comfortable with each other,_ I think. _Maybe it really is true love._

After we order Ulrich starts looking at the TV at the bar. I turn my head to look at what they're playing. It's soccer. I look at Ulrich and his eyes are glued to the TV.

"Uh, Ulrich, it's not very polite to ignore your guest," I remind him. He turns his attention away from the TV.

"Oh, uh, sorry," he says, embarrassed.

"Guess we haven't gotten rid of awkward Ulrich after all," I tease.

"Unfortunately nothing will ever be able to kill off sassy Yumi," he fires back.

"You'd miss my sass, admit it."

"Nope!" I chuckle at how easy I can prod him.

"You do look good tonight." I change the subject, complimenting him.

"Thanks. Uh, Odd helped me with it." I look at him incredulously.

"You took advice from the guy who has never been with a girl?"

"I mean, we both haven't, so I have nothing to lose." He shrugs. "So, did you think over it last night?"

I nod. "I'm ready, Ulrich. I'm tired of waiting and hiding. I want us to be happy together. We've built a great bond over our years here and it'd be a shame to throw that away."

"I came to the same conclusion," he says. "I don't want to hide my feelings anymore. I think that I'm strong enough now to get over all the small things that bothered me before."

"I'm glad to hear that, Ulrich." I smile.

"Besides, I'll finally be able to get Sissi off my back."

"Oh, wow, look at you. So ripped. It's not just Sissi who wants you now," I mock.

"Give me a break. Sissi's insane and the entire school is not after me." I look over his arms. Even wearing the shirt, I can tell he's grown a lot and gotten stronger through sports.

"Is Sissi still really into you?" I ask curiously.

"She's gotten a lot better but she's like me at the end of the day. It's pretty much an instinct now."

Just then Sissi walks by the window with Herb. She stops and stares at us, and then looks at Ulrich and starts screaming. We can't hear her through the window though. I tap on the glass and she looks at me. I point at Ulrich and make a heart with my hands. She starts jumping up and down and screams something. I think it's "string bean". She storms off angrily and Ulrich starts laughing hysterically.

"Yumi, that was great," Ulrich says. I'm laughing at Sissi's reaction too.

"Is something the matter here?" The waiter has come with our food. I take a moment to compose myself.

"Nothing, sir, nothing at all!" I reassure him. "Thank you for your wonderful service!" The waiter shrugs and puts our food down.

"I think I like this Yumi better than the sassy one I've had to deal with the past five years," Ulrich says.

"Don't get used to it. You're still a dork at heart."

"Says the one who's worn black ever since she was born."

"I'll lay off for now. I'll be like Odd if I don't dig in soon." Ulrich agrees and we start eating.

"Check, please," Ulrich tells the waiter.

"One or two?" the waiter asks.

"Uh, one," Ulrich answers.

"Oh no you don't," I interrupt. "I'm paying for myself. Two please."

"I knew this would happen," Ulrich says, facepalming.

"Why don't you let your girl handle it?" the waiter advises. He then leans in and whispers something to Ulrich.

"Okay, one check."

"What did he say?" I ask. Ulrich laughs.

"He said that I should let you have it this time to appease you," he says. "Little does he know there's no appeasing Miss Yumi Ishiyama."

"You're as stubborn as a bull yourself," I reply. The waiter comes back with the check and I pay.

"You wanna go for a walk," Ulrich asks, as we leave the restaurant.

"Sure, why not," I answer. Ulrich takes my hand and we stroll down the streets of the city.

"Look at the-" Ulrich begins.

"Stars?" I finish. "Don't bother being cheesy with me. I've heard it all."

"You're just on a roll today," he says.

"I try." It gets colder and I get closer to him as we walk. I look up at him and there's a little blush in his face. I smile to myself. We take in the night, the crisp air, sound of the occasional car and smells of various restaurants. It seems like we could walk together for eternity.

"What do you think the others will say?" Ulrich wonders.

"Don't worry about them," I reply.

"Easy for you to say. I have to put up with the endless jokes by Odd."

"Eh. You've dealt with them for years. And I've dealt with jokes about you from Hiroki for forever." I check my phone for the time. It's 10:07. Time seems to have flown so quickly.

"Do you need to get home?" Ulrich asks. "I'm sorry, we kinda did walk a long way into the city."

"It's ok, Ulrich. I'll get back."

"I can walk you back," he offers.

"Nah, it's fine, Ulrich. Really." I start to walk back.

"Okay, take care." There's a tone of disappointment in his voice. I turn back to him and walk up to him.

"I had fun tonight, Ulrich," I tell him. "Do you wanna get together again sometime?"

"Sure thing, Yumi," he replies. "I had fun too. Your outfit looks very beautiful by the way." I laugh at his awkwardly placed compliment.

"Hey, you wanna know something?" I ask.

"What?"

I lean in, close my eyes and press my lips to his. He recoils a bit but then holds there too. It's a soft and tender moment. We stay together for a little while before I break away. I look him in the eyes. He's still in a bit of a minor shock from what happened. I smile, not breaking our eye contact.

"I love you."


	8. Chapter 8: Laying the Foundation

**So I lied, I won't be off the grid till tomorrow and there's still more fluff to come. This is the last chapter that'll be sacks of fluff, after this there'll just be occasional fluff. Going to introduce Aelita's POV and the first clues next chapter, and it should get a lot more interesting than just being a straight-up romance story. Also, I realized that everyone except Yumi was actually Year 9 at the end of Season 4, but it's too late now so we'll just roll with it being Yumi's senior year anyway. Enjoy, and review!**

* * *

Odd and I are sitting at the breakfast table. I stare at my croissant and decide I'm not hungry today, and donate it to the Della Robbia Hunger Fund.

"How were your skate shows, Odd?" I ask.

"Fantastic!" He says between munches. "You should've come. I totally destroyed Jude in that duel, and raked in a few more tips! It was super cool, you should've come!"

"Odd, you know I had to catch up on those essays and my language classes."

"Oh really? Does Japanese happen to be one of them?" Odd sticks his tongue out. I consider rolling my eyes but decide against it.

"Maybe," I say with a wink.

"Hey guys!" Jeremy and Aelita come sit down at our breakfast table.

"How was everyone's weekend?" Aelita asks.

"Totally killed it on the ramp," Odd says. "By the way, do any of you all not want your croissants?" Jeremy hands him his.

"Jeremy, you need to eat," Aelita says, taking the croissant back. Odd lets out a muffled "Hey!" while chewing.

"Aelita, I'm never hungry."

"Keep telling yourself that and I'll have to spoon feed you." Jeremy looks embarrassed and we all laugh.

"Jeremy just needs some electrical juice to power his brain, that's all," I joke.

"How was your weekend, Ulrich?" Aelita asks. "Did you do anything exciting?" She looks at me with a knowing twinkle in her eyes.

"Uh, nothing much, just some studying," I say, not wanting to bring it up in public.

"Oh, well that's alright. Are you stressed for exams?"

"Kinda. I mean, I don't really have much to work for. I'm in the in-between level in all my classes."

"Hey guys!" I turn around and Yumi's coming our way.

"Yumi, are you gonna eat that croissant?" Odd asks, still hungry.

"Yes, Odd, I am. Why don't you go bother Rosa for more?" Yumi says. She sits down next to me and gives me a hug. I feel awkward at first, hugging in the cafeteria, but I return it and wrap my arms around her.

"Whoa whoa whoa! Slow down the PDA!" Odd exclaims. "Ulrich, why didn't you tell me about this yet?"

"I wanted at least two days before you started your jokes." I shrug.

"That's all he could talk about," Yumi chuckles. "He was afraid what would happen once you found out."

"Was not!" I say indignantly.

"So that's where you disappeared to Saturday night," Odd realizes. "And why you started pranking me with that stupid grin on your face!"

"Wait, you turned the tables on Odd?" Yumi laughs. "What did you do?"

"I just spread some of his chip crumbs in his bed," I say embarrassedly. "I was on an emotional high, okay?"

"I don't recognize you anymore," Yumi teases.

"You two are very cute," Aelita compliments. "I'm glad it finally worked out."

"So are we," I agree.

"Not as cute as us," Jeremy says. We look at him and he suddenly feels awkward.

"You still have a long way to go with your words," Aelita says, giggling.

"Oh, uh, sorry for interrupting," Jeremy apologizes. He goes back to typing on his computer.

"I knew it! Yumi and Ulrich are in looooooveeee!" Hiroki shouts as he and Johnny come up to our table.

"Hiroki! Stop yelling so loud!" Yumi scolds.

"I'm gonna tell Mom and Dad," Hiroki smirks.

"No, please! Not for at least another month," Yumi says quickly. Hiroki thinks about it.

"Fine, but do my homework for two months," he compromises.

"You're in middle school and you should be doing it yourself, but fine! Now scram!"

"Told you you had no shot," Hiroki says as he and Johnny walk away.

"Calm down, Yumes, He never follows through with these threats," I say.

"What did you just call me?" she asks.

"Yumes. Why? What's wrong?"

"Come up with a less cheesy nickname. That one already makes me cringe."

"No can do, Yumes."

"Who are you, Hiroki?" she's throwing a minor tantrum now and I'm amused by it. Two can play at this game.

"Your flirting is cute and all, but we've gotta get to class," Odd says.

"See you all later." Aelita smiles as she and Jeremy get up and walk away.

"See you later, Yumi," I say as Odd and I get up to go. She smiles.

"See you, dork." She punches me lightly and gets up. I chuckle at her. The same old Yumi.

"I'm really happy for you two," Odd tells me as we walk to class.

"That was a pretty lame attempt you made to ditch me," I comment. "Not very Odd-like to not have a well-planned escape."

"I did that for you, buddy, the least you could do is thank me."

"We probably would have ditched you anyway, not the other way around."

"Is that why it took this long?" Odd says, smirking.

"Eh, suppose you're right." We head to the math room and get seated. The teacher starts lecturing as usual. I sit in the corner so it's easy for me to doze off and still get away with it. I open my notebook and start mindlessly doodling hearts. I make an attempt to draw Yumi in one of the hearts.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Odd whispers.

"Uh, nothing. Drawing," I reply. Odd takes my notebook and starts looking at it.

"You've really let this get to your head, loverboy," Odd snickers. "Oh, and, this might be the fattest Yumi I've ever seen."

"You draw a better one then," I challenge. Odd nods and starts scribbling furiously. Within a minute he hands the notebook back. "Wow, that's pretty good," I remark.

"I can show you a few of my tricks," Odd offers. "You can draw her for her birthday or something."

"Thanks, Odd." I smile.

"Stern!" the teacher shouts. "Answer to this equation. And what is the vertical asymptote?" My brain freezes.

"Uh, y equals 12 when x is 0.5, with a vertical asymptote at x equals negative 4," I say randomly. She checks the equation and turns around, fuming.

"I don't know what powers you have to be able to figure it out without doing any work, but I'll get you next time."

I stay on alert for the rest of class. Nothing else happens and we're let out. I remember that exams are at the end of this week and sigh. I feel a pull on my arm.

"Ulrich dear, tell me what happened on Saturday night," Sissi insists.

"Don't call me Ulrich dear, and I was hanging out with Yumi," I say coldly. "We've already talked about this. You need to drop it, we're not meant for each other."

"Oh but Ulrich, I've been holding out for so long! One day you'll see the light and not the darkness of that string bean."

"Don't call my girlfriend a string bean. And leave me alone." I pull my arm back from her and walk out with Odd.

"That was awesome, Ulrich! If not a little on the edgy side," Odd says.

"I'm taken now. And until people realize that I'll do what it takes to remind them."

Odd sheds a fake tear. "Look at my boy, growing up so fast. Soon he'll be off to his wedding."

"At least I have a chance at one, Odd."

"We'll see about that." We both laugh as we head our separate ways for class.

I get through the rest of the school day pretty easily.

"How is that new technique of yours going?" Pierre asks as we walk after school.

"Pretty good, although I still gotta work out some kinks. When I do the sweep sometimes they fall too far and I can't do the finish."

"Well, we'll be able to practice soon. I can't come tonight but I'll come tomorrow."

"That's alright. See you around." I wave as Pierre goes back to his dorm. I head over to the gym anyway. I change and head out to the mat.

"You're late."

"Give me a break. I'm three minutes late," I answer.

"Guess this wasn't special enough of an event?" Yumi steps out in front of me.

"Women. You can never run anything past them," I comment.

"Men. Always so irresponsible."

"Come on Yumes, it's three minutes," I complain. She frowns.

"I would beat you but I have a feeling that this nickname is going to stick," she sighs.

"You're right about that," I grin.

"Are you ready to have it handed to you?" Yumi gets in a stance.

"Can you fight with your hand?" I ask.

"Yeah, it's fine. Fully healed. Come on, let's go," she says impatiently.

"Alright." We bow to each other and start. Just like always, it's a close and tough fight. She has a counter for everything, it seems like. I go for a spinning kick and she blocks it and it throws me off balance. She charges me but I flip over and avoid it. She lands on the ground but grabs onto my leg, pulling me down with her. She gets on top of me and I slap the ground. She pulls me up.

"Mediocre. Do better."

"If you hadn't pulled me down this would've been over," I mutter.

"Too many ifs. Don't live in the past," she advises. "Ready for Round 2?" I brush myself off and get ready. We spar fiercely again. This time, I catch Yumi with a fake and then bring her down with a well-timed jab.

"Next round takes all," I conclude. "Don't expect me to go easy."

"Never did." Yumi goes on the offensive immediately and forces me back. I fend her off before launching my own counterattack. I'm sloppy and inaccurate and she's able to dodge easily. "Come on loverboy, you're making this too easy," she taunts. I fall for it and go all in. She catches one of my punches and pulls me in, flipping me over her shoulder. I'm surprised at her strength and I hit the floor hard. She gets on top and pushes me down.

"Surrender," she commands.

"Not yet," I grimace. My foot kicks her in the back and she goes flying off of me. I predict her sweep and hop over her legs, landing on top and pinning her down. She struggles but isn't able to break free.

"Fine, you win," she admits. "Help me get up."

"Not yet, Yumes," I say, and suddenly I lean in and kiss her. I hold it there for a moment and then break free. She slaps me.

"Ow! What was that for?" I get up, rubbing my face.

"I enjoy kisses, but not right after a sweaty sparring session," Yumi answers. I suddenly feel a sensation and realize what's happened. _Oh god no, don't let her see. Please, please, please._ "Hm?" Yumi looks up at me. "What's wrong?"

"Uh, nothing, nothing," I say. She glances down.

"You're weird," she snorts. "Can't control your hormones, can you?" I start blushing uncontrollably. "Well, it would help both of us if you got off me."

"Oh, yeah, right." I roll over and Yumi gets up.

"But a little cute at the same time. It's nice to know you think about me like that." She winks. I get up and follow her.

"Sorry about that," I apologize. "I wasn't thinking like that, I swear."

"Are you going to follow me to the changing room?" She raises an eyebrow. "Because you'll contradict what you just said if you do." I sigh at my stupidity. She chuckles and goes in.

"By the way, you're a terrible kisser," Yumi tells me as we walk back to the dorms.

"Can you lay off for once today?" I groan. She smiles.

"Just looking out for you in my own way."

"How are you any better of a kisser than I am?" I ask.

"All those cheek and forehead ones didn't go to waste," she says with a wave.

"Hey Yumi, can I tell you something before you go?" I ask. She turns around.

"Sure Ulrich, what is it?" She comes back and comes in close until our faces are almost touching.

"I love you," I say with no hesitation. She cracks a small smile.

"I love you too."


	9. Chapter 9: An Ominous Sign

**Finally, the first clues. I also probably need to develop JXA more, but their relationship seems more natural in the show than UXY, which was kind of the reason for the first 8 chapters to begin with. Also the tabbing doesn't seem to work in this format, not sure why so the paragraphs might have been confusing but I'm not sure how to fix it. Anyways, enjoy!**

* * *

"Time's up! Put your pencils down!" I hand in my exam and walk out with Jeremy. Exam week is officially over. _Three more of these weeks to go and I'm done with school,_ I think.

"What'd you think of those last few questions?" Jeremy asks. "I didn't get the one about passive voice in that passage."

"Wow, Einstein, guess Italian isn't really your thing."

"Eh. I'm confident I still got a 99."

"Can't be perfect at everything," I tease. The first snowfall of the year started a few days ago and now the Kadic campus is covered with a thin layer of snow. Jeremy looks at me as I stare at the snow.

"Do you remember the first time you saw snow?" he reminds me.

"I do. Well, the first actual time. Technically the first time was that XANA attack. But I enjoyed it."

"XANA," Jeremy mutters. I look at him, deep in thought.

"Jeremy, XANA's been destroyed." I put a hand on his shoulder. "It's been three years. There's no more need to worry about him."

"I know, Aelita, but you know me. I can't help it."

"Well, at least now you've been getting more than four hours of sleep a night." I don't worry about Jeremy as often, and he's opened up to us through our friendship. I still remember the times when he refused to come with the group and prioritized XANA projects.

"How is your new demo going, Aelita?" Jeremy asks.

"Very well. There's still some sound quality issues with it, but I'm fixing them tonight." We grab our food from the line, spot Yumi sitting by herself and sit down by her.

"Hi, Aelita," she says cheerily. "Hey, Jeremy."

"Hey, Yumi," I greet. "How were your exams?"

"Fine, I guess. Enough to stabilize my grades." She takes a bite of food and shrugs.

"Have you figured out where you're going to school yet?" I ask.

"Beats me. The day is coming up in a couple of weeks, actually. I'm a little nervous. I only applied to five schools so there's not much room."

"I'm sure you'll be fine," I reassure her. "And we think you're an amazing person no matter what."

"Thanks, Princess."

"Where are Odd and Ulrich?" Jeremy asks.

"I'm sure Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum will be coming shortly," Yumi remarks, reverting back to her snarky self.

"Now, now, Yumi, that's no way to talk about your boyfriend like that," I tease.

"He's just my good friend," Yumi jokes. We burst into laughter. I love all of my friends, but I probably love Yumi the most. We've had a big sister-little sister relationship since I joined the group, and beneath that sarcastic and independent exterior is a warm and caring person.

"Hey everyone!" Odd and Ulrich come and sit down with us. Ulrich kisses Yumi on the cheek and she blushes. Even though they've only been together for a little over a week it warms my heart to see them so happy together.

"Thankfully Odd thinks he did well enough to get close to a C+ in his classes this semester," Ulrich says.

"Hey, watch it," Odd says. "Remember you used to be as bad as me."

"You can always take peace in the fact I'll never beat you in terms of appetite," Ulrich says. The group makes some more jokes and I sit back as Odd, Ulrich, and Yumi bicker amongst themselves. It certainly seems like we've become a lot closer again as a friend group the past few weeks.

 _Aelita Schaeffer._ I suddenly hear a voice. I turn around, looking for who said my name. _Aelita…_ I hear again. I'm getting more and more nervous. _Aelita, please…_

"Who's there?" I exclaim.

"Everything alright, Aelita?" Jeremy asks.

"Did you guys hear that?" I ask. Everyone shakes their head.

"You must be tired from exams," Yumi reassures me. "Get some rest in the afternoon." I feel a little relief but I'm still worried.

"Good thing about exam week is afternoons off," Odd comments. "Which means video games and then naptime!"

"I'm going for a walk with Yumi in the park," Ulrich says.

"And I'm going to go do some more programming," Jeremy announces. "Are you coming, Aelita?"

"I just need to take care of one thing, Jeremy," I say distantly.

"Huh? What do you have to do?" he says.

"The Hermitage," I realize. "That's where I'll find answers."

"Aelita, what did you hear?" Yumi asks.

"Someone-someone said my name," I say. "I think only I heard it."

"In that case, we should all go," Ulrich declares. "It could be dangerous."

"This better not take long, Princess," Odd says impatiently. "I've got Galactic Fighters 7 to get to!"

"Do you think it's-" Jeremy begins. I look sideways at him. He said what we're all thinking.

"No. It's impossible," Yumi says adamantly.

"I guess there's one way to find out," I say.

We walk the familiar path into the forest. It's been a long time but we all still know where it is. It doesn't feel as ominous as before, but I still can't shake the feeling.

"Aelita, what did the voice sound like?" Jeremy asks.

"It was just a whisper," I respond. "It didn't sound unnatural or anything."

"I hope this is more than just a hunch," Odd says. "It's getting colder and colder outside."

"You can worry about it later, Odd," Yumi says, shutting Odd up. We finally reach the gate of the Hermitage. I open it and run up the stairs to the door.

"Aelita, wait up," Jeremy says. I look around inside, and feel a pull in a certain direction. I sprint up the stairs, to my father's old study room.

"What are you looking for?" Ulrich asks. I look around. I spot the old desktop in the corner of the room.

"Aelita, that thing's been off for years, it probably won't start," Jeremy tells me.

"Just let me try something," I whisper. I hit the power button and the computer slowly turns to life. The screen flickers for a while.

"Weird, but not anything special, Princess," Odd comments. "Let's head back." He starts heading down the stairs. Suddenly the computer makes a humming noise and I sit down at the table to look at it. A bright red circle appears on the screen.

"Einstein, what does this circle mean?" Ulrich asks.

"I couldn't tell you. It's just a circle. Although it might be a message," Jeremy replies. The red circle disappears, and it's replaced by a blue W.

"Huh? Now what's it trying to say?" Yumi questions. I stare at the screen. The W feels like it's burning itself into the screen. The computer suddenly shuts off. I press the power button again but it doesn't do anything.

"I don't know what this means either," I admit. "But it has to mean something."

"We'll be on the lookout," Jeremy promises. "I'll get back to scanning the Web immediately."

"No, Jeremy. Don't worry about it," I say. "Until we know more it's best you don't spend your efforts on something like this."

"This stuff doesn't happen every day, Aelita."

"Jeremy's right," Yumi says. "You hear voices in your head and then this happens? Something has to be up."

"Why doesn't Einstein just do some low-key reconnaissance on the Web?" Ulrich suggests. "Doesn't have to be any more than that."

"Yes, that sounds good," I agree. We walk back to the school and everyone goes their separate ways. The rest of my day goes normally with Jeremy, programming and reading, but I still can't shake the feeling in my stomach. _Aelita…_ the voice echoes in my head.


	10. Chapter 10: Holiday Break Blues

**I apologize for the incoherentness of this chapter, next chapter we'll get back to the action/maybe what I write will make a little more sense. Anyways, more friendship/squad goals because I felt like it. Enjoy!**

* * *

"Goodbye! See you soon!" Aelita blows Jeremy a kiss as he gets into his dad's car. His dad raises an eyebrow in question, and Jeremy quickly starts spouting mathematical nonsense to change the subject. It's that time of year again. Christmas break, when the boarders leave for home and people like me stay cooped up in their houses for a week and a half. I always feel bad for people like Aelita, who have to stay on campus supervised by a few teachers that don't want to be there. Luckily this year I convinced my parents to let her stay for the break.

"A week and a half without Einstein? Who's gonna sustain that supercomputer in your head now?" Odd teases. Aelita gives him a little pinch and he runs off in mock pain. Ulrich's standing around, looking for his father's car.

"How are things in your family going?" I ask tentatively.

"Same as usual," he says with a shrug. "Maybe a little better than before. I finally raised my grades to a B average but Dad says that the only thing I did was stop slacking, and now the real work begins."

"I'm sure you'll work it out." I put a hand on his shoulder and he smiles. I reach into my bag and pull out a wrapped box. I bought it for him a few days ago when shopping with Aelita. "Here, a little early Christmas gift so you don't totally forget who I am over break."

"Wait till you see what I got you," Ulrich says, and pulls out a box of his own and hands it to me. "Also, this one's for Aelita." He hands me a pink box with red stripes. I glance over and see Aelita and Odd throwing snowballs at each other. Kiwi circles around the snow curiously. I chuckle.

"How long should I wait to open this?" I ask.

"Open it as early as you want. Just not in front of me, of course," he says.

"Obviously. You feel free to do the same with mine." I smile at him. He comes over and plants a kiss on my cheek.

"See you soon," he says. I give him one more kiss on the lips.

"Take care," I reply. I watch his dad pull in and scold him for dressing messily and still hanging out around us, and then he puts his luggage in the back and rides off. _I just hope they can come to consensus soon,_ I think. _I don't want him to have to clash with his parents all his life._

"My sisters are so lame!" Odd complains. "I'm always the last one to leave! Why can't they drive faster?"

"Are you telling me you don't want to spend more time around Yumi and I, Odd?" Aelita asks.

"You two are fine. Luckily I wasn't stuck here with Ulrich instead of you! I'm not a huge fan of training wheels anyway!"

"Oh, can it, Odd," I say, laughing. I remember my last present and pull it out of my bag. "Here, take this. I think you'll get a kick out of it."

"Thanks, Yumi," he says, taking the box. "Here, I've also got something for you." He winks and I groan.

"Calm down, Yumi, I'm sure it can't be too bad of a joke," Aelita says, giggling. Odd's sister finally pulls in and gets out of her car, opening her arms to embrace him. Odd jumps in and she holds open his shirt and shoves ice down his back.

"I was expecting something like that!" Odd exclaims. "Here, take this!" He uncurls his fist and throws a snowball at her. I expect it to escalate but they just laugh and get in the car. Odd rolls down his window and waves to us as he goes off, with Kiwi sticking his head out..

"Like brother like sister," I remark. "Are you ready to go?"

"Sure thing, Yumi." Aelita and I grab our bags and walk towards my house.

"What does your family do to celebrate Christmas, Yumi?" Aelita asks as we walk.

"Christmas isn't traditionally celebrated in Japan but my family's gotten into it," I reply. "They make me help them build the huge Christmas tree every year."

"That sounds fun! Maybe I can help this year," Aelita says happily.

"Do you need any help carrying anything?" I ask. "We've gotten tons of presents this year."

"I should be good, Yumi," she says. "Thank you though."

We get to my house and my dad opens the door, welcoming us in.

"Hello! You must be Aelita," he greets.

"Yes, of course, Mr. Ishiyama," Aelita says politely.

"Please, please, make yourself comfortable. You can drop your things off over there. You'll be sharing a room with Yumi."

"Dad, I only have one bed," I remind him.

"We don't have any spare rooms, unless you want your friend to sleep in the storage closet," my dad says.

"It's ok, Mr. Ishiyama, we'll make it work," Aelita reassures him. I look at her with a sideways glance and she smiles. We drop off our things and take our presents upstairs to store in my room.

"What are you, a boy?" Aelita teases. "Can't stand sleeping with another girl?"

"Sorry," I say embarrassedly. "I'm not used to sharing my room."

"This is cute," Aelita says, picking up my Totoro doll. "Where'd you get it from?"

"My parents gave it to me when I was little. I've had it since," I respond.

"Your parents seem very nice. I didn't know what to expect when I came here."

"You'd be surprised how much convincing it took me," I say with a laugh. "Eventually I explained the pain of living in the dorms during break and they agreed."

"I'm really grateful to have met you, Yumi," Aelita says. "You've always looked out for me, you know."

"I try my best," I say with a smile.

We head downstairs for dinner after unpacking and organizing for a little bit. Hiroki's playing video games in the living room. Aelita goes over and looks over his shoulder.

"Yahhh!" he says, surprised. "Yumi, don't do that!"

"Oh, sorry," Aelita says. "Are you Hiroki?" He turns around at that.

"Uh, yeah," he says. "Who are you?"

"This is Aelita, Hiroki," I scold. "Don't be so rude. I told you she's my friend who's staying here for the break."

"Don't worry about it, Yumi," Aelita reassures me.

"Do you know Ulrich?" he asks.

"Why yes, I do. Why?"

"Tell Yumi that she should go out with him!" Hiroki shouts.

"Hiroki!" I scold again. "Not so loud!" Aelita giggles.

"I'll make sure your sister knows loud and clear," she says to him with a wink.

"Dinnertime!" my mom calls. The three of us head to the table where my parents are already sitting.

"Do you need a spoon or fork, Aelita?" my dad asks.

"Uh, I think I'll be good, Mr. Ishiyama. Yumi's been showing me how to use chopsticks," Aelita says. We dig in and Aelita especially seems to enjoy dinner. She finishes her plate before all of us.

"So, Aelita, from what I take it you're Odd's cousin?" my mom asks.

"Uh, yes, Mrs. Ishiyama," Aelita replies. "From Canada."

"Why doesn't Odd take you with him?" my mom asks, interested.

"Uh, well, Odd's parents are extremely busy so most of the time it's his older sisters at home. And my parents obviously don't want me doing that." My parents nod at Aelita's explanation.

"By the way, who names their kid Odd?" Hiroki comments. Aelita and I laugh at that.

"Hiroki! Watch your manners!" my mom tells him. I finish dinner and leave with Aelita to go to my room.

"Your family's very sweet," Aelita compliments.

"Yeah, well, you're a guest so they have to treat you with respect," I snort. "Usually I can't stand them for more than a few hours."

"It's nice that they're so close to school, though," Aelita says. "I should come visit more often!"

"I don't know if you can come that often, but I'll try to let you stay as many times as possible," I say, patting her on the back.

"I wish I knew that sense of family," she says sadly. "All I can remember is Daddy teaching me piano, and asking me about school. And then…"

"I'm sorry, Aelita," I say softly. "I'll do everything I can to make this your family as well as mine."

"Thank you, Yumi," she says with a small smile.

"I have an idea. You wanna open everyone's presents? Maybe that will cheer you up."

"Christmas isn't for another three days, Yumi."

"Oh, forget it. I can't wait to see what prank Odd pulled on me anyway." She nods and gets up to sort the presents. We set each other's aside and go through all the other ones.

"Okay, you first or me?" Aelita asks.

"Go right on ahead, Princess." She picks up the first present, from Ulrich. She unwraps it and it's a tiara. She giggles and tries it on.

"How do I look, Yumi?" she asks.

"Couldn't be better," I answer, holding my thumbs up.

"I don't know what else to do with it, though. Maybe I'll just keep it in my room," Aelita thinks aloud. "Okay, you next." I nod and grab Jeremy's present from the pile. I open it and it's a book titled _Physics Forces in Martial Arts: Using Science to Gain the Upper Hand._

"Such a Jeremy type gift to get me," I joke.

"Think of it this way. Now you'll be at an advantage when fighting Ulrich," Aelita suggests.

"Unless he got Ulrich the same book," I counter. "He would do that too."

"Jeremy? No. I think I've gotten to him. He actually considers others' feelings now," Aelita says.

"Well, I'm glad to hear that," I say. Aelita picks Odd's box out next and opens it.

"It's a harmonica!" Aelita exclaims. "I've never played this before! And what's this?"

"It looks like you're supposed to wear it so the harmonica's mounted. You'll get to try out something new," I remark. "Maybe you can play that and DJ at the same time!"

"That sounds interesting. I can't wait to see what Odd got you."

"Oh boy," I mutter, unwrapping the poorly tied knot around the box. I pull out a pack of condoms and some Vaseline.

"I know what the condoms are for, but what about the Vaseline?" Aelita asks curiously.

"Don't worry about it," I sigh. "I think he got Ulrich's gift and mine mixed up. Just like when he mixed up my gift with Kiwi's."

"There's one gift left. Would you like to do the honors?" Aelita offers.

"Mm, sure," I say. I pick out Ulrich's gift. It's wrapped with colorful paper and I can see he tried his best to tie it together himself. I untie it and unwrap the box to find a necklace inside. It's made of small metallic chains and a black gemstone sits in the middle as a centerpiece.

"It's beautiful," I say softly.

"That really is special," Aelita says, smiling. "That was very sweet of him."

"I know he's a good person. He can just be a little bit of a hardhead sometimes." I try the necklace on and I already like the way it feels. "Okay, Aelita, let's see what Jeremy got you." Aelita picks up Jeremy's box and opens it.

"Wow, it's a locket and a new microphone!" Aelita says excitedly.

"Open up the locket, maybe there's a picture inside already," I suggest.

"It's one of our photo booth pictures," she says, chuckling.

"Photo booth? When did you guys do that?" I ask.

"A long time ago. Back when I was first finding my way around here."

"Well, we can wait till Christmas to open each other's gifts. But we'll have to do it all in separate rooms, as usual."

The rest of the night is uneventful. I play some chess with Aelita for a little while, and then she gets tired and starts getting ready for bed. I look out the window, wondering about Ulrich. _I really should call him,_ I think. _I hope he hasn't gotten into a fight yet._ I turn the necklace over and over in my hands. It's finely crafted and must have cost him a fortune. I smile in the dark at his sensitivity and his thoughtfulness.

* * *

"What did I tell you last year? Raise your grades up to As or you'll never be successful!" My dad is on a roll again as we're stuck in traffic downtown. Luckily we don't have to take a plane back home since we always stay at my parents' summer home in Paris over breaks.

"Dad, my grades are all at a solid B," I complain. "I'm not as bad as I was before."

"I was top of the class, headed straight for Oxford at your age," he fires back. "I spoke three languages fluently, won a national science bowl competition and had several articles published and peer reviewed. What have _you_ done with your life, Ulrich?"

 _Oh nothing, just defeated an evil AI program, saved the world multiple times, finally got with the girl of my dreams,_ I wanted to say.

"Uh, I learned three new techniques for Pencak Silat and am starting at center-forward for the third year in a row once soccer season starts," I mutter.

"Big deal! Kadic's soccer team went, what, like 3-13 last year? Sports aren't gonna get you anywhere in life!"

"Calm down, dear, he's trying his best," my mom pleads.

"His best isn't good enough." We roll onto the main highway as my parents keep bickering. I've gotten good at tuning them out in the long car rides. I hated breaks ever since I enrolled at Kadic. It's extra time for my dad to lay into me and a lonely week or so too.

"So what I'm saying, is that he's different from you, honey," my mom explains. "His interests and his friends are different. You can't expect him to be just like you."

"He's running out of time to get his life together. I didn't pay a small fortune to this school for him to turn out mediocre!" Dad turns to me again. "And, you're still hanging out around that same friend group!"

"I raised my grades and kept hanging out with them, so obviously they're not the issue," I say.

"Fine, they don't have a negative influence. But you need to be friends with people who will raise your level!"

"I'm friends with the smartest person in the grade," I mutter.

"Belpois? He'll never get anywhere in life. He's all book smart, can't explain a lick of what he does," my dad dismisses. A few years ago I would've agreed, but now I don't. I decide to stop paying attention again as my dad starts getting agitated about traffic.

We finally arrive at our summer home. I pull my luggage out from the back of the car but I have to carry my gifts from everyone separately.

"I can help you carry that, dear," my mom offers.

"Uh, no thanks Mom, I can do it myself," I say. I struggle with it and almost drop one of the presents but manage to get everything inside. I set down all the presents by the Christmas tree that we always leave up.

"What are those?" my dad asks.

"Presents. From my friends," I reply. He glances at them and then turns away to unpack his own things. I look at them all again and notice the one from Yumi is signed with a heart on the I. "Shit," I mutter under my breath. I quickly take the box and the rest of my stuff up to my room.

I spend the rest of the day in my room alone, only getting out to eat dinner and then going right back up. At least my dad doesn't bother me as soon as he's done lecturing me. _Just because I'm used to being alone doesn't mean I like it,_ I think. My mind wanders to the times at Kadic before my friends. I used to stay in a dorm room alone, go to class, and have some superficial friends but nothing more. _Anybody else in my position would be as popular as Sissi,_ I think. _I guess I'm just not that type of person._

"Ulrich?" there's a knock at the door.

"Yes, mom?" I answer.

"Can I come in?"

"Go ahead." The door opens and my mom comes in to sit down next to me.

"Ulrich, I just wanted to talk to you about-"

"Grades? My friends? Life?" I interrupt.

"Well, for starters, you should treat us with more respect than that," she scolds. "That was what I wanted to begin with, actually. You need to treat us like the authority figures we are."

"Maybe if you didn't bother me all the time I wouldn't snap." I shrug.

"Maybe if you told us about what was happening in your life we wouldn't worry as much," she counters. "But beside the point. I want to reassure you about your father's behavior."

"What about it? He's the same old, same old."

"No, dear. He may act that way on the outside but he's actually very satisfied with you."

"That's impossible. All I ever hear from him is how I can do better." I sulk.

"That's because he believes in your potential," my mom explains. "He knows you're capable of being great, otherwise he would've given up a long time ago. We're both very proud that you're capable of defending yourself and that you've found activities to put your passions into."

"And you're just telling me this now?"

"I don't want you to break, honey. I was especially worried about you today. You're in the middle of the toughest times of high school."

"Sure thing, Mom. Thanks for explaining," I say halfheartedly. My mom nods and leaves. Even though she did provide some explanation I still feel like my parents cling to me more than Sissi.

I remember Yumi's gift and pull her box over. My dad would kill me if he found out I was dating in high school. _Relationships distract you from what's important!_ I can hear the voice in my head. The box is decorated with cherry blossoms and has a note written, "To Ulrich-From Yumi." I decide it's not worth waiting around until Christmas to open it. I tear open the box and I find a new pair of cleats. There's a little note in the bottom that reads, _Saw your old ones were worn out. Here's to a great season-Yumi._ I run my hands over the cleats, marveling at the bright colors and sharp studs.

My phone rings and I glance over the screen. "Call from: Yumi Ishiyama"- the screen reads.

"Speak of the devil," I mutter. I pick up.

"Hey Ulrich," Yumi says on the other end.

"Hey Yumes. What's up? Is anything wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong. Just checking on you."

"Come on, it's not even officially break yet and you already are? You're worse than my parents," I laugh.

"Actually, that's what I wanted to talk to you about," she replies. "I hope you're doing alright with them."

"It's the usual. Do better, you have so much potential, blah blah blah," I say.

"You should try to work things out with them. You don't have much time left," she suggests.

"I'll try."

"Promise me?"

"Promise."

"Good," she says.

"How is having Aelita over?" I ask.

"A little cramped since we have to share a bed, but it's been fun. She's asleep now. Hiroki asked her about you."

"Does he still not know about us?"

"I didn't tell him. He'd blab and I'm not sure how my parents will react at this point. He does kind of look up to you as a role model though."

"I realized that," I say. "I'm the best role model around."

"Get real," she snorts. "Remember that time you told Johnny to follow me around so he could get my attention?"

"That was pretty funny, you gotta admit."

"No, it wasn't," she disagrees. "Sometimes I wonder how I put up with you."

"Right back at you."

"I opened your gift early," she comments. "Sorry if you're disappointed. But it's really sweet."

"I opened yours too. I didn't want to be opening it in front of my parents."

"What did you think?" she asks. I smile in the dark.

"It's very thoughtful," I say. "You know me too well."

"I'm glad you like it. You didn't have to spend so much to get me this."

"I'd do anything for you," I reply.

"Thank you, Ulrich." I can imagine her face on the other end. The blushing, her smile.

"I'd better get to bed before my dad yells at me. Good night, Yumi."

"Good night Ulrich. Have a good break." I smile and she hangs up. I put the cleats back in the box and lay down. It'll be a long break, but at least my friends will be there any way they can.


	11. Chapter 11: The Renewed Fight

**Pretty straightforward here. Don't think there's any romance in this chapter, for maybe the first time this entire fanfic. It felt a little dry to me but it's not the end for UxY and JxA fans. Enjoy, and review!**

* * *

I'm running in the ice sector. Odd's riding his Overboard behind me, shooting at Tarantulas while William follows along with me with his Super Smoke. A wall of Bloks suddenly appear in front of us, and William speeds on ahead to cut them down. I run through the opening to the cave in front of me, looking for something.

"Be careful, Princess!" Odd shouts after me. I wave him off and slide down one of the passages in the cave. I'm sliding, sliding, and I'm almost to the end. And then…

"Aelita, get up!" I hear a voice and flip over. I feel someone shaking me. "You don't wanna sleep in on Christmas, do you?"

"Huh?" I murmur. I open an eye and it's Yumi.

"Wake up, Princess, we've got a big day ahead."

"Coming," I groan. I sit up and look around. Everything looks normal. Yumi's already dressed and cleaning up the room.

"Sure had a good night's rest, didn't you?" she remarks.

"Mm. I had a dream," I reply. "About Lyoko."

"I'm sure it's nothing to worry about. I used to have dreams all the time about Lyoko too. Although it is kind of strange you'd have one now."

"Nothing scary or wrong happened. You're probably right," I agree. I shower and get dressed, and head down to breakfast where Yumi's family is all gathered.

"Good morning, Aelita," Yumi's mom greets me. "Merry Christmas!"

"Merry Christmas to you all, too," I say with a smile. I grab some toast and fruit from the table and start eating. "So how do we open gifts here? I know you're not supposed to open gifts in front of the person who gave it to you," I ask.

"We all go in separate rooms and open them. And we usually wait until the end of the day to tell each other about them," Yumi's dad answers.

"Sounds good to me," I say, holding a thumbs up.

"Wait till you see what I got you, sis," Hiroki says with a smirk.

"And wait till you see what I got you, it'll really help with getting Milly," Yumi fires back. Hiroki starts blushing and turns away. Soon everyone's done with breakfast and we start opening gifts. I go to the closet to open mine. I find a pair of pink Beats from Yumi.

"Wow, these must have cost a fortune," I murmur. I open her family's gift and it's a finely decorated Japanese dish. I feel awed at how well Yumi's family has treated me even though it's only been a few days.

I head back into Yumi's room where she's just finished opening her own gifts.

"These boots are wonderful, Aelita," she tells me. "Thank you so much!"

"Not as great as these headphones you got me. You didn't have to spend so much for me!" I exclaim.

"Don't worry about it Aelita, I got them super cheap online. Say what you will about Odd but he's great at finding obscure deals."

"I got your parents a cookbook and Hiroki a new game," I tell Yumi. "I'm not sure what they really like though."

"My parents will love it, they've been trying to cook different types of food from the Internet for years now," Yumi says. "What game did you get Hiroki?"

"Pokemon Omega Ruby," I reply. "Why? What kind of games does he like?"

"I'm sure that'll be fine," Yumi says. "He's into action games but he'll enjoy Pokemon. Speaking of Hiroki, look what he got me." She holds up a pink frilly dress with polka dots.

"I'm sure Ulrich would love that," I giggle.

"I'm just gonna stuff it in the back of my closet," Yumi mutters.

"It is a little much," I admit. "Even I wouldn't wear it. What did you get Hiroki?"

"I got him a camera," Yumi smirks. "So now he has even more ammo to go after Milly."

I laugh and put my gifts by my luggage. Yumi glances at the dress again, disgusted, and shoves it into one of her drawers.

"What are we doing the rest of the day?" I ask.

"Oh, I don't know," Yumi answers. "We don't usually do much else during Christmas. We have a big dinner tonight and that's about it."

"Wanna play another round of chess?" I ask. Yumi agrees and gets the board out. I start pondering my move after about 10 turns or so when I hear it again. _Aelita…_ a voice says. I grit my teeth.

"Something wrong?" Yumi asks. _Aelita…come…please…_ the voice says.

"Who's there?" I shout.

"Is it the voice again?" Yumi questions. I nod my head.

"We have to go back to the Hermitage," I insist.

"Okay." We get our coats and head downstairs. Yumi's mom looks at us with a confused expression.

"Girls, where are you going?"

"We're just gonna, uh, go for a walk," Yumi says. "It's kinda stuffy being cooped up in here all day."

"It's cold out. Are you sure you want to go?"

"We won't be long, Mom, promise."

"Okay. But be back quickly and keep your phone on." Yumi waves and I follow her out the door.

"I'll call Jeremy and tell him," Yumi says as we walk towards Kadic.

"No. I don't want him to worry. Wait until we see what's going on and then we can alert the others," I say. Yumi shrugs and puts her phone back in her pocket. It's chilly outside, but nothing unmanageable. The weather is pretty typical for this time of year.

"What did you hear this time?" Yumi asks as we enter the forest.

"The same thing as last time," I reply. "But this time the voice asked me to come."

"Strange. Who do you think is calling you?"

"I have some suspicions, but I won't conclude anything right now," I say. We reach the Hermitage and I swing open the gate. We head upstairs and it's just as cold as outside.

"Whatever this is, I hope it won't take long," Yumi mutters. "We can't stay out here forever."

"We'll see," I say. I press the power button on the old desktop. Nothing happens for a few seconds and then it begins to whir, slow as ever. This time the blue W appears immediately, and then transitions to a note. Yumi peers closer to read it.

 _I am alive. And so is XANA._

"Who is this?" Yumi asks. "Franz Hopper? Why does the W keep appearing?"

"W…Waldo," I realize. "His true first name." We keep reading.

 _I am sure you have many questions. Unfortunately I have neither the time nor power to answer all of them. I will make this brief. I was not fully destroyed by XANA when I sacrificed myself to give you the power to run the multi-agent system. XANA and I will always be connected to each other, just as you and XANA once were, as holders of the keys to Lyoko. XANA saved a small part of my data, and in doing so, was able to escape with me into the Internet. We have both been gaining power. However, I am not able to hold XANA off for much longer, as he gains power exponentially compared to me. The most I can do right now is send you messages and take over simplistic technologies such as this desktop. You must turn the supercomputer on once again, and I will work with Jeremy Belpois to develop the final solution. I cannot separate myself from XANA just yet, but I am eternally grateful that you have been able to rid yourself of all chains to this AI. However, our work is not finished yet._

 _-Franz Hopper_

The screen suddenly shuts off again. I stare at the blank screen for a long time.

"Our worst fears have been confirmed," Yumi says grimly. Part of me wants to believe it's me dreaming, that I'll wake up any moment. But deep down I realize it's true.

"Daddy is alive," I say softly.

"Yes, but so is XANA," Yumi says. "Sometimes you have to take the good news with the bad news too."

"If it means I get to see him again, I'll do anything," I determine. Yumi wraps her arm around me.

"And we'll do anything we can to help you," she says. I give her a small smile.

We organize a group Skype call in the evening. Yumi and I sit at her desk on my laptop. Ulrich keeps looking nervously over his shoulder, Jeremy is ready to listen and Odd is eating a bowl of ice cream.

"So, Aelita? What's this announcement you wanted to tell all of us?" Jeremy asks. I tell the whole story and the three boys are shocked.

"Are you sure this isn't just a trick by XANA to lure you in again?" Odd asks.

"Well that would mean XANA is alive either way, wouldn't it?" Yumi answers. "For now we have to take this at face value. And even if it is a trap we'd have to fight XANA anyway."

"I wonder why Hopper hasn't been able to separate himself from XANA all these years," Jeremy says. "He just appears as a sphere on Lyoko."

"Maybe it has something to do with him being the original guardian," Ulrich suggests. "He created XANA, and once he virtualized himself XANA did everything to keep him there so he could eventually escape."

"I have a feeling it's more complicated than that, but I think you're on the right track," I say. "We'll find more answers later."

"So what do we do now?" Yumi asks. "What if XANA starts attacking once again?"

"I don't think XANA's gained enough power to be able to take over supercomputers and start launching attacks again," Jeremy says. "But if Hopper is right he will soon. I'll start working on a program that we can use to track XANA's power level and location. In the meantime, if something bad does happen, you and Aelita are close to the factory."

"One thing's for sure, XANA's harder to kill than indigestion!" Odd grumbles.

"Ulrich! What are you doing in there?" We hear a voice from Ulrich's screen.

"Sorry guys, gotta go," he says, and abruptly hangs up.

"Well, I think our meeting is finished anyway," Jeremy says. "I'll get to work as soon as possible."

"I'll let you all know if anything weird happens," Odd says.

"Same here," Yumi agrees. We end the call. She glances at me. "How do you feel?" she asks.

"I'm not sure," I say.

"I'd feel the same," Yumi says. "Let's get some rest, it's been a long day."

"It's been an interesting Christmas to say the least," I say.

"And it'll only get better from here," Yumi mutters. I stare at my hands, deep in thought. _Daddy,_ I think. _Daddy's alive. But so is XANA._ I clench my fists.

"No more running," I think aloud.

"I agree completely, Princess," Yumi says. "We'll take the fight to XANA this time."

"And we'll bring Daddy back," I finish. "I'm tired of being afraid. Of always reacting. This time, we'll finish it for good."


	12. Chapter 12: Stomping Grounds

**Tons of new stuff. This chapter feels a lot longer than it probably should be. Ulrich POV. Enjoy, and leave a review!**

* * *

The first thing that hits me when I get back to Kadic is the snow. It's piled on with nobody to maintain it over break and it's a lot more difficult to see where the paths are. The dumb ones like Herb and Nicholas are throwing snowballs at each other. Jim is shoveling snow along with some other people. I take shelter near the vending machines and notice that everyone's already there.

"So, what I'm saying is, it's not fully functional yet, but I should be able to get a rough sketch on both Hopper and XANA's activity," Jeremy explains.

"Hey guys," I say. "What are we talking about?"

"Einstein's working on his program to detect and track XANA," Yumi says. "But it's not finished yet."

"I'm surprised you were able to develop the first version so fast. XANA isn't easy to track over the web," Aelita says.

"XANA leaves a massive digital footprint everywhere," Jeremy responds. "It may not be much in one case, but over time it adds up."

"How about XANA's power level?" I ask. "When do you think it'll be strong enough to start launching attacks again?"

"It has to feed off residual power from various online sources," Jeremy says. "Once the data in its internal memory is rearranged and repaired from the damage from the multi-agent system, it'll be able to polymorphize itself and reestablish itself at a beacon, such as Lyoko."

"English, please?!" Odd demands.

"What Jeremy means is that once XANA has drawn enough power, it'll be able to reenter Lyoko and use it as a hub to start launching attacks again," Aelita translates.

"So how do we figure out how much power it has?" I ask.

"The answer to that and more information we need may lie in Sector 5," Jeremy says grimly. "We need to go there immediately. I don't think we've scratched the surface of the information that lies in Sector 5 that we could use."

"When are we going?" Yumi asks.

"Does today after school work for everyone?" Jeremy suggests. We all nod.

"Can't wait to blow up some Creepers again," Odd exclaims, pointing his wrists like he's shooting Laser Arrows.

"Well, with any luck, there won't be any monsters on Lyoko yet," Jeremy mutters. The five minute bell rings. "Well, I gotta get to class. See you all tonight." Everyone disperses except for Yumi. She's turned to the wall, staring at it.

"What's up with you?" I ask. She shakes her head.

"I don't know if I'm ready for this life again," Yumi murmurs. "Cutting class, risking my life, always being on alert."

"It'll be fun, Yumes." I put a hand on her shoulder. "I was getting pretty bored of normal life here. Now I see why everyone's so depressed on the weekdays."

"It's not a game, Ulrich," she says, shaking her head. "Why was it us tasked with saving the world? Why are we even keeping this a secret?"

"Well, you happened to be practicing with me the first time XANA ever attacked. And if we told anyone they'd make us shut the supercomputer down, which wouldn't stop XANA."

"They were rhetorical questions, dork," she says.

"Relax, Yumi. We're just going on a little warm-up mission. Maybe we'll find data that makes it so Einstein can destroy XANA without us even having to go back again."

"I hope so."

"It'll be alright." I give her a kiss and we head to our respective classes.

"I can't wait to blow up some monsters again," Odd whispers to me in math.

"Eh. It's alright."

"Easy for you to say. You don't have to break a sweat with all of your powers. It's more fun when it's a challenge."

"Easy? I'm the only one who has to run up to monsters to kill them. The rest of you can all shoot or throw stuff at them."

"Oh, how cold the world is!" Odd monologues. "Super Sprint! Triplicate!" He starts waving his pencil around.

"Della Robbia! This isn't drama class!" the teacher scolds. The class snickers at Odd.

"Idiot," I chuckle.

"I'll get Jeremy to start up his stats program again," Odd mutters. "And then we'll see who's better on Lyoko."

That afternoon we meet on the supercomputer floor. The computer rises again, extending all of its circuitry and panels. Jeremy presses a few buttons and the lever pops out.

"Are you all ready for this?" he gulps. We nod our heads solemnly. He pulls the lever and the supercomputer comes whirring to life, engulfing everyone in a bright wave of light. The hunk of metal starts running again and power surges through it. "Get to the scanner room. I'll head back upstairs and virtualize you from there."

Aelita, Yumi and I get in the scanners first while Odd waits.

"Transfer, Yumi! Transfer, Aelita! Transfer, Ulrich! Scanner, Yumi! Scanner, Aelita! Scanner, Ulrich! Virtualization!" The scanner whirs and I close my eyes as the familiar sensation of wind and floating begins. A moment later I land on solid ice. Yumi and Aelita stand up next to me. I look at myself and I have essentially the same outfit as the last time on Lyoko. I notice Yumi's black and pink jumpsuit with the shoulder pads and flower design, and the sleeve on her right arm.

"You look great," I compliment. She rolls her eyes.

"Great. I never knew you were in love with my virtual outfit too," she teases.

"It's fitting," I respond. "Not too gloomy, not too jazzy either."

"I've always thought you looked like a ninja who needs to retire," Yumi says.

"I'm flattered." A moment later Odd lands next to me and practices some moves.

"Jeremy? Why are we in the ice sector? Did the virtualization process for Sector 5 not work?" Aelita asks.

"The process is completely fine," Jeremy responds. "But I've been working on some neat little upgrades. And I thought you guys might want some room to try them out."

"What kind of upgrades?" I ask.

"I've programmed upgrades to your weapons," Jeremy says gleefully. "I might be more excited than you guys are about them. I can't wait to see them in action!"

"Where are my upgrades?" Odd shouts. "I don't see anything different!"

"Some of them you'll have to wait until there's action. But for you, Odd, I've loaded you with 10,000 Laser Arrows so you shouldn't ever have to ask me for refills again. I've also increased your fire rate."

"You're the best, Jeremy!" Odd exclaims. He points at an ice floe and starts rapidly shooting at it.

"Great, now he might hit one of us when he's too happy," Yumi grumbles. Aelita laughs at Odd's happiness.

"That's not all, Odd. I've downloaded your teleportation powers into your avatar, but if you still decide you don't want them I can take them away. Also, concentrate on your hands really hard and then pull down with them."

"Huh?" Odd says in confusion. He stares at his hands for a moment and then makes the motion Jeremy instructed him to do. Suddenly, claws pop out of his fingers.

"Hey, that's not fair!" I yell. "He has so many powers now!"

"Relax, Ulrich, I'll show everyone their upgrades soon," Jeremy replies. Odd whoops and climbs up an ice wall at breakneck speed with his claws.

"These are neat Jeremy, but Marvel might be coming after you with a lawsuit!" Odd says.

"Don't worry about it. And you'll be able to activate them faster with experience."

Odd teleports down from the cliff and retracts his claws.

"Show me what I get now, Jeremy," I grumble.

"Sure thing, Ulrich," Jeremy says. "Unfortunately your avatar already takes up so much data I wasn't really able to add anything major. But I did add life points to your swords. Also, check your pockets." I fumble around my sides and touch something sharp. I pull out five shurikens.

"These are great, Jeremy," I say. "Now I can finally hit things without throwing my sword."

"You can control them telepathically too," Jeremy explains. "Once they've sliced through whatever you want them to, you can command them to explode. Oh, one last thing. Stick the handles of your two swords together." I oblige and the two swords suddenly merge together to form one double-bladed staff. I twirl it experimentally.

"You've really outdone yourself, Einstein," I remark. "This is pretty neat."

"Alright, Jeremy, what have you got for me?" Yumi asks.

"I added homing features to your fans and you can control them telepathically too, so you don't have to worry about catching them anymore. You can also use telepathy now without having to stop and leave yourself vulnerable. I've also just programmed a new weapon that I'm sending to you now. It should help with more close-range fights." Just as Jeremy finishes speaking something begins to form in Yumi's hands. It's a long chain with a big sickle on one end and a spiked ball on the other.

"What is that?" Aelita asks.

"A kusarigama," Yumi finishes. "It's a traditional Japanese weapon."

"A Toma-what-a?" Odd asks.

"A kusarigama," Jeremy says. "Both ends of it can be used in combat and it's also great for other things like grappling." Yumi swings it to the side in big loops.

"How is that gonna help against a sword?" I say skeptically. Yumi swings it towards me, wrapping the sickle around my sword. She pulls back and the sword goes along with it.

"Don't underestimate it," she says with a twinkle in her eyes.

"Aelita, I've made your Energy Fields faster and I've also programmed a powerful shield for you. Try it out," Jeremy says. Aelita crosses her arms and a giant bubble appears around her.

"Hey, her shield is so much bigger than mine!" Odd complains. "And you didn't give her much in the upgrade department either."

"I'm not too keen on fighting," Aelita says.

"Aelita's job is to deactivate towers and run the software in Sector 5," Jeremy adds. "The rest of you are supposed to clear the path for her."

"Good to know we're just bodyguards," Yumi grumbles.

"That's not what I meant," Jeremy sighs. "You all are amazing fighters and there's no way we would've made it this far without you. We're all equally important here."

"Jeremy's right. We're a team," Aelita says. "Let's get to Sector 5 and get the data."

"I'm calling up your vehicles," Jeremy says. The Overbike materializes in front of me and I hop on.

"Oh yeah baby, good to see you back. Let's make you purr," I grin.

"Is that what you tell Yumi at night?" Odd calls from above.

"Shut up, Odd," Yumi and I say simultaneously.

"Jeremy, where did you find the storage and power to program all these upgrades?" Aelita asks.

"My parents got me a new laptop over break. They said my old one was junk," Jeremy says. "I agreed. I rerouted all the power from my old laptop into the supercomputer, which gave me just enough to add your upgrades and be able to virtualize your vehicles."

"It works, so I'm not complaining," I comment. We reach the edge of the ice sector and dismount our vehicles.

"Okay, I'm entering the code-"

"Scipio, we know," Odd interrupts. "Is all this talking you do during the process even necessary?"

"Don't question me, Odd," Jeremy says. The transporter covers us and takes off. I look around. _Jeez, everyone's jumpy today,_ I think. We arrive in Sector 5 on the XANA logo.

"Okay, the room should be straight ahead. You've got three minutes as usual to trip the switch." We run into the room to find a massive gap between us and the switch on the other side. Moving platforms shift fast from one side to the other and some pistons crash down on some of the platforms.

"I forgot how annoying this place was," Yumi says.

"Last one there's a baked Kankrelat!" Odd shouts.

"Don't forget, don't fall into the Digital Sea," Jeremy reminds us.

"Yeah, yeah, we know," I mutter. "Super Sprint!" I jump onto the first platform and eye my next target. I jump onto another platform and spot a piston about to come crashing down and I quickly jump off.

"Good going, Ulrich," Odd calls. He's scaling the side of the wall. Yumi and Aelita follow my lead on the platforms.

"Climbing on the walls is cheating," I grunt. I still manage to reach the switch and trip it. The room returns to normal and a path opens.

"Good work, Ulrich," Jeremy says. "The elevator should be coming any minute now."

"There it is!" Aelita points. We all jump on as it zooms upward.

"You ever think Hopper thought about how his security system keeps the good guys out more than the bad guys?" Odd wonders.

"The puzzle is just the first protective layer," Aelita replies. "XANA was meant to be the true guardian of the core, so the people in charge of Project Carthage couldn't access the core even if they figured how to virtualize themselves."

"Not to mention all the barriers before that too," Yumi adds. "The transporter code, the monsters XANA's created."

"Too bad it all turned on him," I think aloud.

"Arriving in three seconds," Jeremy interrupts. The elevator stops at the entrance to the core and we get off.

"Okay, I'm heading to the data," Aelita says. She starts up the panel just outside the core.

"I want the rest of you to do a little exploring around the core," Jeremy commands. "I wanna make sure XANA isn't setting up any plans we don't know about."

"Come on, Jeremy! You're gonna make me third wheel?" Odd complains.

"Shut up and deal with it Odd," I snicker. "I third wheel you all the time with all the two day girlfriends you have." Odd sighs and follows us into the core. We hop up the giant steps of the core, looking around.

"Everything seems normal," Yumi says. "The core is protected by both shield layers."

"What's that over there?" Odd says, pointing. We turn to where he's pointing and there's a XANA logo embedded in a part of the wall.

"I don't like the looks of that," Jeremy says grimly. "Go check it out." Odd presses his hand to the XANA logo and immediately gets shocked and thrown backwards.

"Odd, are you alright?" Yumi asks.

"Just a little shaken up," Odd says, getting up.

"You just lost 30 life points from that, Odd," Jeremy says. "Good thing there's no monsters here yet."

"Jeremy, do you think you can find a way around that?" I ask. "If XANA is guarding it with that kind of barrier it has to be important."

"I'll see if I can hack it," Jeremy says. "In the meantime, just sit tight."

"Wait, didn't you say XANA didn't have enough power to reenter Lyoko yet?" Yumi exclaims.

"I thought so. But apparently entering and using are different things. I think XANA can enter Lyoko in small ways, but it can't take over towers and the like just yet."

"Great, that's really reassuring," Yumi mutters.

"Hey, calm down," I say. "We held our own with XANA at full strength. We can beat him down again if he's not even at full strength yet." Yumi shrugs.

"Okay, I've hacked the lock," Jeremy says. The logo disappears and it's replaced by a switch. I hit the switch and the wall opens up.

"Time to see what our pal's up to," Odd says, and runs in on all fours. Yumi and I follow. It's a dark, dimly lit corridor and we seem to run for forever. Finally we reach the end where Odd is waiting. I look around and we're standing in a large, lab-like room.

"This kind of looks like the main room of the factory," Yumi comments.

"What are these?" Odd asks. He's over by a bunch of large vats hooked up to the ceiling. Five humans are curled up, surrounded by fluid.

"I don't like the look of this at all," I say grimly. "Jeremy, do you see this?" No answer. "Jeremy? Jeremy!"

"Do you think there's something wrong?" Yumi asks.

"Definitely. Let's get out of here."

"Wait!" Odd says. "Let me just explore these a little." He taps on the glass and the fluid parts a little. "Ahh! Okay, let's get out of here." We sprint down the corridor and back out into the core of Lyoko.

"Hey, where were you guys?" Jeremy asks.

"We were gonna ask you the same thing," I say. "I was trying to contact you but you didn't answer."

"XANA must have set up a bug to disrupt the communications in there," Jeremy realizes. "What did you guys find?"

"Five vats with what looks like are humans in them," Yumi says. "And the room kind of looks like the Lab."

"Hey, what's going on?" Odd says. We turn around and the corridor closes, being replaced by the XANA lock.

"Looks like the room is on a timer too," Jeremy muses.

"Odd, what did you find in there?" Yumi asks.

"I-I saw a human face," Odd says. We gasp. "But I couldn't tell who it was. It wasn't really formed yet."

"I'll try to find out more about it. Aelita's done sending me the data so meet her back at the elevator." Yumi and I jump down while Odd teleports. Aelita is waiting for us at the bottom of the core.

"Where were you all?" Aelita asks.

"We found a really creepy room," I say. "One of XANA's tricks. But we don't know what he plans to do with it yet."

"Hmm," Aelita says. "Well anyways, I've collected a ton of data from Sector 5's storage. Maybe we'll find some clues in there."

"I'm ready to get home," Yumi says.

"Roger that. Materializing all of you now," Jeremy says. Yumi and Odd disappear, and a moment later Aelita and I follow. We head back up to the Lab where Jeremy is waiting.

"I think that's enough for today," Jeremy remarks. "I'll stay here and get started on analyzing the data Aelita's collected."

"Are you skipping dinner? Can I have your share?" Odd asks.

"Go for it." Jeremy turns back to the computer and starts working.

"I'll stay with him to do some work. Catch up with you guys later," Aelita says, waving. The three of us ride up and walk out on the bridge.

"Oh boy, they've got burgers today! See you all later!" Odd says, running ahead of us. Yumi turns to me.

"So? How'd you feel about it?"

"Wasn't too bad. The upgrades for us are really cool," I say. "You wanna take a walk in the park and talk about this?"

"Sure, let's go." We take the path opposite of the one leading back to Kadic.

"Are you still worried about everything?" I ask.

"A little bit. I got over some of it just walking around in Lyoko again, but I can't shake the feeling that something worse will happen this time."

"I think you're worrying too much," I say. "I don't feel good either. But regardless it's our job and we can't really do anything about it. We have to fight."

"Just imagine if Jeremy had never pulled that lever," she says with a soft chuckle. "XANA would still be dormant and nobody would know about the most horrible monster in the world. But we also never would've met Aelita."

"Do you think we would've still been friends without Lyoko?" I wonder.

"Jeremy asked about that too once," she says. "I think the answer is that we would but it wouldn't be as strong. Lyoko strengthened us to the point that we could withstand anything."

"You've been doing some thinking," I remark.

"Yeah, because unlike you my brain isn't just full of hormones and stupid ideas of playing hero."

"I just think the salt content in your brain might be too high," I laugh.

"You're the one who raised my salt levels," she retorts.

"Did you miss me over break?" I ask with a wink.

"I might have, but now that you're starting to act like a fuckboy I don't anymore," she says, crossing her arms.

"They say love makes you crazy," I quote.

"They never said anything about what happens if you're already crazy," Yumi says, and leans in for a kiss. I can feel the passion and I return it equally. She breaks away for a moment and then comes in for another one. After a few more I move down and start kissing her neck. She shivers at the sensation and I continue after feeling that.

"Looks like we've got a rogue one," she whispers.

"Your move," I whisper back. She does the same to me and I can see why she shivered. It's a tickling sensation that makes me hug her closer and crane my head to the sky. I break free and meet with her lips again. Every kiss feels like I'm breathing heaven. She backs up against a tree and I follow, pressing up against her. I feel her hands wrap around my head and I oblige, leaning in even closer.

I hear a rustling behind us. I break free and look around. Yumi looks at me with a confused expression. Out of the corner of my eye I spot Herb and Nicholas. I pull Yumi's hand and put a hand over her mouth, crouching behind some bushes.

"Hey, did you hear that?" Herb asks.

"Hear what? It's probably just a squirrel," Nicholas says.

"I'm tired of going with you on your stupid fishing trips," Herb says.

"They're not stupid! It's the adventure of the night!" Nicholas says in protest, and drags Herb along.

"What are you gonna catch, it's freezing out!" Herb shouts. I peek my head over the bushes to see them walking further down the path.

"The coast is clear," I whisper.

"We almost got caught making out by two nerds," she giggles.

"That's not funny. Imagine the field day Kadic News would have with that," I mutter.

"Nothing ever happened as long as you don't get caught," she whispers. I stare at her and she has a mischievous look in her eyes.

"Maybe we can go somewhere cleaner," I say. "I'm not rolling around in this slush."

"Fair point," she replies. "Let's go to your room."

"What? Like now?" I stammer.

"Odd will be gulping down dinner anyway. Hurry up and decide before I change my mind and realize this is a stupid idea."

"Mm," I grunt. "Let's go."

"I knew you couldn't refuse," Yumi says, smirking.

"Max half an hour and we're done," I insist. She looks at me with a look of mock pain.

"Am I not pretty enough for more time?" she asks innocently.

"Shush, before I change my mind."

"You love me."

"I do. I just don't know what's gotten into you."

"Too much thinking. Just let me handle it this time." I follow Yumi back, but it's hard for me to even concentrate on walking. My mind's been blurred and I can't focus, except for on one girl. _Just let your logic go,_ I tell myself. _This is what you've wanted for forever. What's the worst that could happen?_

* * *

 **Could not resist writing in fluff at the end, so apologies here XD Although nothing too serious is going to happen next chapter in the life of UxY.**


	13. Chapter 13: Preparation

**Yumi and Aelita POV. Having trouble coming up with what should happen next so any suggestions are welcome. If not I can always come up with a decent idea after some brainstorming. It's ironic how I have the end parts of the story mapped out in my head yet can't come up with the parts in the middle. Anyways, more fluff and info on XANA, enjoy!**

* * *

My heart pounds as I follow Ulrich to his room. Sure, I was the one who had made the advances, but now I was beginning to regret it. _Are you insane?_ I scold myself. _You never take dumb risks like this._ Ulrich unlocks his door and motions for me to come in. I walk in hesitantly and sit down on his bed.

"Apologies in advance for Odd's side of the room," Ulrich says as he closes the door.

"It's fine," I say sheepishly. "I've already experienced it after all." Ulrich chuckles nervously.

"So, uh, what do you wanna do?" he asks.

"You're such a dork," I tease.

"This was your idea," he retorts. "Don't get cold feet on me now."

"Sorry, but I think I am," I say. "How about we just, uh, have a little chat?"

"Um, okay, sure," he says. I see disappointment flash across his face before it returns to the same stone face he usually wears. "Well, it's hard to believe that school will be over in six months."

"Oh shoot, you're right!" I exclaim. "The admissions date is the end of this week! I almost forgot!"

"Are all of them on the same date?" Ulrich asks.

"All of them except two. I only applied to five schools so I'll find out from the first three this Friday."

"Well, hopefully you go somewhere that's close to here," he says sadly.

"No matter what I'll still be back here to visit depending on how my break schedule works out," I reassure him.

"It's not fair," Ulrich says. "We've only gotten started and it's about to be ripped from us."

"I know," I say softly. "I can't stand it either. But we'll tackle it when the time comes. For now, let's make these last few months the best they can be."

"If only I hadn't been so stupid earlier," he mutters. I wrap my arm around him.

"Maybe this happened for a reason," I guess. "Maybe we weren't ready for this until now."

"That's pretty stupid for whoever's in charge of all this fate bullshit."

"Sometimes, we can be pretty stupid too," I chuckle. "Like one Odd the Magnificent says, love and jealousy make you crazy."

"It still feels weird to call you my girlfriend," he muses. "Maybe because I've gotten used to the 'good friend' excuse all these years."

"I'll admit that was my mistake," I say. "I thought I was doing the right thing but I wasn't. I just made it worse."

"It was _our_ mistake," Ulrich corrects. "But it's a thing of the past. What matters now is that I have the most beautiful girl on the planet by my side." He brushes a strand of my hair behind my ear. I smile and blush a little. He comes in for a kiss and I accept, breaking free only for air after a while. I look over him. The messy brown hair, the intense brown eyes, his handsome collared jacket clinging to his toned physique.

"What's wrong? You look like you just kissed for the first time," he remarks.

"Just admiring the view," I reply, and he smiles awkwardly. I giggle and push him down on the bed, and he wraps his arms around me. I kiss him passionately in all the different parts of his face, exploring his reactions. I stop holding myself up and lay on top of him, only to find it more difficult than I expected.

"Uh, Yumi? Could you get off? Or at least not get on me?" he stammers. He's blushing madly now.

"Unbelievable," I snicker, and take a glance down at his pants. Sure enough, it's exactly what I expected.

"Sorry. I can't help it," he says apologetically.

"It's okay," I whisper, and I suddenly feel a new urge. A feeling of want and desire and… _lust?_ I think to myself. He was laying right there, rearing to go even if he didn't command it. His nervousness only made me want it more. I gasp and roll over, staring at the ceiling. I'm breathing heavily and my chest rises up and down.

"Yumi, are you okay?" Ulrich asks, concerned. "You looked at me weirdly."

"Uh, yeah, I'm fine," I say sheepishly. _I can't ever admit that to him,_ I decide. He shrugs and lays down as well. Suddenly we hear a key turning in the lock.

"Shit, shit, shit," I whisper. I pop up just as Odd opens the door.

"Oh, brother," he moans. "At least all of your clothes are on."

"Odd!" we both scold.

"Ulrich, do me a favor and at least hang a sock on the handle," Odd says. "And Yumi, I love you as a friend but I don't wanna see anything I'm not supposed to see."

"Odd, we weren't doing anything wrong," I protest.

"Uh huh, sure," Odd says, raising an eyebrow. "Good thing I took Kiwi for a walk so he wouldn't be permanently scarred by this."

"Oh right, Kiwi wasn't here," Ulrich realizes.

"Yeah, if you two would've been focused on anything but slobbering over each other you would've noticed!" Odd says. "Oh Yumi, I'm ready for you! Ulrich dear, it's now or never!"

"Odd!" I scream. "Get out!"

"Chill out, Yumi. Even with how stupid he's acting he's just kidding," Ulrich mutters.

"Get out? Need I remind you this is my room?" Odd says.

"Sorry, Odd. But you better lay off the jokes," I warn.

"Lay off the jokes? That's like telling me not to eat," Odd exclaims. "You two can do whatever you want, just let me know before you make a mess in this room, okay?" He winks and leaves the room. I shake my head.

* * *

Jeremy stares at the screen of the supercomputer, typing and retyping code. I study his composure: his head leaning on one hand, the sudden flash of an idea and more typing, his eyes scanning the results, and going back to being slumped in the chair.

"Are you making any progress?" I ask.

"There's just so much to decode," he complains. "XANA put so many firewalls and other barriers on all of this data."

"Is the information useful? I extracted from the parts of the Core you told me to."

"It's useful, alright. From what I've decoded I've found more of Franz Hopper's notes that he stored in the Core of Lyoko, as well as some data on the workings of XANA."

"Let me have a try." I step up to the computer and look over everything on the screen. There's a screen with a block of code and some notes in other screens. I scroll up and down the block of code.

"I need to finish the code so I can send it and remove this firewall," Jeremy explains. "I don't get it. Even though it's an advanced firewall I'm pretty sure I typed everything right."

"Oh, here it is," I say as my eyes target a specific line of code. "You programmed an infinite loop. That's why your code isn't breaking down the firewall." I retype the line and enter the code. The red "Access Denied" message is replaced with a checkmark and a new screen with data pops open.

"Good catch, Aelita," Jeremy compliments.

"Silly you. An infinite loop is one of the easiest mistakes you can make," I tease.

"Well, we're all human," he says, shrugging. He takes a look over the data. "Hmm. This seems to be a compiled set of data on XANA."

"Scroll through it. See what it says."

"XANA is a multi-agent system designed as a counter to Project Carthage. It combines cutting-edge software with a basic non-evolving behavioral program to enable it to take on a multitude of initiatives," Jeremy reads.

"This is a long manual," I comment. "You could probably skip all the intro stuff and get to the mechanics section."

"I'll do just that. It'll take me a few more hours."

"Jeremy, it's dinnertime. You really should eat."

"Eh, I've had enough meals over the last few years to bank in. It's time to get back to work," he says, not turning from the screen. I sigh and give him a quick kiss on the cheek.

"Good luck, nerd," I say.

"Uh, thanks, Aelita." He manages to give an awkward smile and it amuses me. I walk alone back to the school, pondering about different things. It was nice that the Lyoko Warriors had bonded back together ever since that bowling night. Before that we had split into three groups, with Jeremy and I, Ulrich and Odd, and Yumi occasionally coming around when she felt like it. Of course we'd made other friends throughout high school, like Ulrich and his sparring partners, Odd and his film and skateboarding friends, and I had met some people who hung out in the library and loved reading for fun. But I always felt like my closest and true friends were the Lyoko Warriors. _And now we're back just in time to fight XANA,_ I think. _I sure hope Jeremy doesn't wear himself out._ Jeremy had been there for me throughout, whether it was preventing the others from shutting the supercomputer down at first, figuring out ways to help me on Lyoko or decoding Daddy's notes. People did and do see him as a nerd who's antisocial, but I saw him more as someone who had the right feelings of respect and caring, and who just didn't know how to project them. We weren't the type of couple with raw passion like Yumi and Ulrich, but we did understand each other and care for each other when we needed each other.

I walk into the cafeteria and grab an oily burger from Rosa, and some carrots. I'm late to dinner and I sit down by myself. Even though I'm hungry, school food is a hit or miss. Today the food's merely okay and I'm able to handle it. I'm in the middle of a bite when I spot William walking up to me.

"Hey, Aelita," he says. "Mind if I sit here?" I nod and he sits down across from me.

"What's up with you? No artsy friends to sit with?" I ask casually.

"I had to finish up some retouches on my painting and everyone was already done with dinner by the time I finished," he explains. "How about you? Not sitting with Jeremy?"

"I, uh, was finishing up some studying at the library," I say. I don't want to explain to him what's going on and bring him into this mess again.

"Hm. I didn't see you there when I walked by earlier."

"I must've come at a later time," I say quickly. "How is your year going? Heard back from any colleges yet?" I ask, attempting to change the subject.

"Not yet. I want to go into art so those are the schools I applied to."

"What kind of art are you focused on?"

"Mostly painting. Watercolor, pastel, whatever. I just enjoy doing it."

"That's great that you've found something you love," I compliment.

"How's the rest of the gang doing?" William asks.

"Fairly well. We drifted apart a little but we're all back together again and hanging out."

"Hm," he sighs.

"Did I say something wrong?" I ask, concerned.

"I wish I had that close of a group," he says sadly. "Even before everything that happened I never really had any close friends. Just a bunch of people who thought I was cool and wanted to hang out a lot. Then after that hell XANA put me through I lost everyone. They just wanted to know why I acted so weird for such a long time. I stopped being upbeat and just focused on my work and my guilt."

"I'm sorry," I say softly. "We shouldn't have put you through it."

"It's my fault. I jumped in and thought it was all cool, that it was all a video game."

"Still though. We didn't treat you very well even after we freed you. It wasn't your fault XANA decided to go after you. We should've trained you better."

"Thanks, Aelita." He smiles. "You've always been the nicest one here, you know? Not just out of your friends but I think in the entire school."

"I just want others to be happy," I reply. "I don't think anyone should ever have to survive on their own like I did."

"What do you mean you can't give me any more fries?" I turn my head to look at the source of the shouting and I see Odd arguing with Rosa. I chuckle at how worked up Odd is.

"Odd, you've had two burgers and three plates of fries. I can't give you anything else."

"Fine!" Odd storms off and takes some oranges. I wave at him and he sits down next to me.

"Still hungry, Odd?" I ask, amused.

"What's Pretty Boy doing here?" Odd quips, noticing William.

"I could ask the same of you," William replies. "Why are you still hungry?"

"Well, I've just been mentally scarred for life and I need a ton more food to forget it!" Odd declares, peeling his orange.

"Mentally scarred? Did you see how your food's cooked or something?" I tease.

"Yumi and Ulrich in my room," Odd says, disgusted. He makes choking noises and holds his nose.

"Yumi and Ulrich? I've seen them together a lot more, but are they-" William starts.

"Yes, they are dating," I interrupt.

"Wow. I didn't know that," William says, mildly shocked. "Good for them. I was talking to Yumi about making the move but I didn't expect it to happen." I can sense a bit of jealousy in his voice even as he tries to muffle it. _Old feelings don't die off easily,_ I think. _At least he's matured enough to not start fights over it anymore._

"If they're gonna be hanging out in our room all the time I might as well go request a new room!" Odd exclaims. "Kiwi and I need our privacy too!"

"Just go talk to them and work it out, Odd," I suggest. "Besides, you've always said you have a way with girls anyway."

"Except for Yumi," Odd says, shuddering. "She's in a league of her own. I don't know how Ulrich puts up with her sometimes. Then again he can be a little crazy too."

"Well, I got a seminar to do tonight, so I have to leave soon," William says. "See you guys around another time, I guess."

"Good luck," I say, smiling. "I hope we can talk again soon too."

"Later, handsome," Odd says. "Too bad you didn't win the Ishiyama sweepstakes."

"That's okay," William responds. "I pulled out a long time ago."

"Aelita, are you going to eat those fries?" Odd asks, staring longingly at my plate.

"Go ahead, finish them. It'll be a little bit of comfort for all the horrors the Magnificent has seen this time," I tease.

"You're right about that," he says, munching. "My Odd-like sixth sense tells me they reached at least second base."

"Odd, there's no need to make up ridiculous rumors like that."

"It's not a rumor if I don't spread it! Just a joke between you and me."

"If you say so," I chuckle. Odd finishes up and dumps our trays. My phone starts ringing and I pick up. It's Jeremy.

"Aelita? I've found out some important things. Meet me at the factory and bring the others too."

"Gotcha Jeremy." Jeremy hangs up and I look at Odd. "Time to go."

"I'm not going back in my room if they're still there," Odd says adamantly.

"Quit being such a baby. I'll just text them." I text both Yumi and Ulrich and I start walking out with Odd.

"What have you and Einstein been working on?" Odd asks as we walk in the park.

"He's discovered some information about XANA and more of my father's notes," I explain. "We think it might help to destroy XANA permanently, but there's a lot of encryption on the data."

"Just skip to the part where we blow up stuff and destroy XANA, and I'm in," he says, yawning.

"Don't be such a dork. How will you know who to blow up if we don't tell you how it works?"

"Eh, good point Aelita." I smile and we climb down into the sewers. It's an uneventful trip and we reach the Lab to see Ulrich and Yumi standing by Jeremy.

"You guys got here early," I remark.

"Decided to stop making out in our room, huh?!" Odd chides.

"Cut it out, Odd. We left as soon as you walked in. You could've gone to our room anytime you wanted."

"Well, now that everyone's here, I can debrief you on what I found," Jeremy announces. We all look at him expectantly. "I've found some important information on how to track XANA as well as the nature of his programming."

"Well? Go on," Odd says.

"XANA's been evolving over time. This log that I found tracks XANA's activity as well as progression in intelligence." Jeremy hits a few keystrokes and a window pops up. It's a list of all attacks XANA has launched as well as the power increase from each Return to the Past. "Franz Hopper programmed this in case something ever were to happen," he continues. "We can analyze all the past mistakes we've made. I've added what we did for each mission."

"You remember all of that?" Yumi asks.

"Not all at once, but once I look at the log I get reminded of it," Jeremy says. "Anyways, Hopper really had a stroke of genius here. This log has been tracking XANA's recovery back too."

"So how strong is XANA now?" I ask nervously.

"XANA is at about 65% of its power right now," Jeremy says. "XANA was able to feed off wasted digital energy from around the web and slowly rebuild itself. Once it got to a sufficient power it started taking over smaller computers and using them to harness more energy. Remember at full power XANA was able to materialize whatever it wanted on Lyoko, activate towers, the like. Right now from my estimations it can't enter Lyoko yet but it might be able to launch attacks from smaller computers."

"That's so reassuring," Yumi says sarcastically.

"It won't be anything major, I don't think," Jeremy says. "Maybe just some malfunctions or circuit explosions here or there. It won't make anybody suspicious."

"How are we supposed to stop XANA if it does launch a big attack?" Ulrich says worriedly. "The Skid's destroyed and those computers might not be able to support a Replika."

"I'm already working on programming another Skid. And if there is a big attack, we'll hear about it in the news and get to it immediately. Besides, I doubt it'd happen since it's us he's after."

"The thing that worries me is that XANA grows power exponentially," I say. "It might not be much of a threat now but it could be soon. We can't just assume it'll take another couple of years to get back to full power."

"You're right, Aelita. That's why it's so important to read over Hopper's notes. I don't think that just programming another multi-agent system will do the trick; XANA's evolved too much and he'd be able to adapt to that now."

"Got any bright ideas then, Einstein?" Odd asks. "As much as I love fighting I don't wanna do that for years more."

"I'm working on Hopper's notes as fast as I can. Aelita, you said in your father's message he'd contact me soon, right?"

"Yes, but I don't think he'll take risks with it. I'd guess he'll probably show up when the time is right and we can strike while the iron is hot."

"Sounds good to me. In the meantime, I'll keep learning about XANA's structure and see if I can develop some solutions."

"I hope XANA's invented some new sea monsters," Odd says. "I'm tired of shooting at Kongres and Sharks."

"Odd, don't say that," Ulrich scolds. "The last thing we need is to invite XANA to create some Digital Sea version of the Kolossus."

"That's all I have for you guys right now," Jeremy concludes.

"Great, let's get to bed," Yumi decides. "It's been a long day."

"Seconded," Ulrich says.

"Jeremy, are you coming?" I ask. I see the others headed for the elevator out of the corner of my eye.

"Uh, I'll be right up. I just need to finish some more calculations and-"

"Jeremy, you need rest," I say sternly. He looks at me and gives up, turning off the screen and following me. We ride the elevator up and exit to the bridge, where the moon is out and shining over the river.

"So, what was this thing Odd was talking about between you two?" Jeremy asks Ulrich and Yumi.

"It was nothing, Odd's just being stupid again," Yumi says quickly.

"I'm done trying to make you believe me. You'll see for yourself, Jeremy, when you catch them somewhere like the Lab!"

"Whatever you say, Odd," Jeremy says, shrugging. We say good night and split off in our own paths. Odd and Ulrich walk ahead of us, Yumi heads home and I lag behind with Jeremy.

"Pretty eventful day, wasn't it?" he says.

"Depends on your perspective. Compared to our middle school years this is small-time."

"I was a little worried. Maybe there would be a surprise XANA attack."

"You little coward," I tease.

"You have to account for all the variables," he says in defense.

"You're such a nerd, I sometimes wonder how I stayed with you this long."

"Our one year is coming up," he remarks. He was right. Our one year was coming up in a week.

"Have we really been together for a year?" I say distantly.

"Almost. But not as long as we've known you," Jeremy says, smiling.

"Hopefully one day I'll be able to remember my birthday, and then we can celebrate that too."

"I don't know. I kind of like having it as the day we met you. It's a little bit of poetic justice."

"I didn't know you knew what a poem was," I say, sticking my tongue out.

"A 99.87 grade average includes having to do well in literature classes," he says, sighing. We reach the dorm and I stop in front of my room. It's late and it's been an exhausting first day back.

"I'm going to go to bed, okay?" I ask tentatively. "Make sure you do too."

"No worries, Aelita, I'll try," he says.

"Good. You don't wanna see me if I catch you working on Lyoko stuff tomorrow morning."

"I'll go to sleep, I promise," Jeremy says. I smile and give him a kiss, causing him to blush. _Interesting that after a year he still reacts like that,_ I think to myself.

"Good night, Jeremy," I say.

"Uh, good night, Aelita. Sleep tight," he says, and I close my door. I smile at the work he's done as I lay in bed. He's grown so much, not just as a genius but also as a person. I turn to my side, pull the sheets over and let my eyes close, my last thoughts being of friendship, with everyone but especially Jeremy.


	14. Chapter 14: The Scipio of Lyoko

**Introducing Jeremy's POV for the first time. Things are only going to get messier from here on out, both in the real world and on Lyoko...**

* * *

I wake up to the sound of Kiwi whining quietly and Odd playing video games. I glance at my phone and it's 7:30 AM. I sit up, yawn, and stretch my arms. _Today's the college admissions day,_ I think. _Yumi must be nervous as hell._

"Morning, good buddy!" Odd shouts. "It's a beautiful day, the world is singing and the flowers are blooming!"

"You're only saying that because it's Friday," I say, amused. "And we have classes tomorrow morning anyway."

"Don't be such a buzzkill, Ulrich. Any weekend is great to look forward to!" Odd sprints for the showers and I chuckle to myself. I follow him and 10 minutes later I'm all ready and head down to breakfast with the Magnificent.

"Hey, you guys," Jeremy says as we sit down. It's our usual table with the exception of Yumi, who usually arrives late.

"Hello!" Odd says jubilantly.

"Someone's in a good mood," Aelita remarks.

"He says it's just because it's Friday but I doubt it," I mutter. "Must be a date with a girl tonight or something."

"I swear, I've got nothing to hide!" Odd exclaims. "I just woke up and decided that today is gonna be a great day!" He tosses a croissant in the air and catches the end in his mouth.

"Well, hopefully you can keep that mood up because I have a feeling it's going to be a long semester," Jeremy says.

"Don't remind me," I say. "I've already got so much to deal with."

"I'm working on it as much as I can. I'll try to minimize your guys' involvement but it might be inevitable."

"Whatever happens, we'll be ready," Aelita says with a smile. Just then, Yumi comes up to us and sits down next to me.

"Morning, Yumes," I say happily.

"Morning, Ulrich," she says quietly. I can sense something's bothering her.

"Yumi, are you worried?" I ask tentatively. She looks at me and shrugs.

"Obviously. But I mean I can't really do anything about it."

"You'll get in someplace good. And you're still a good person no matter what happens."

"I hope so," she says. I pat her on the back to reassure her.

"Do you have any ideas of what you want to study, Yumi?" Aelita asks.

"No clue. I'm decent at everything. It makes choosing even harder than it has to be."

"You could do music," Aelita suggests. "Your voice is beautiful. We could be a duet!"

"That seems enticing," Yumi laughs. "But my parents would never agree to that."

"Maybe an engineer?" Jeremy suggests.

"Maybe. I don't really know yet," Yumi says. She takes the croissant from my plate and starts eating it. "I'll just become a martial arts instructor and set up my own studio," she jokes. We finish up breakfast and head outside. Odd and Aelita leave for their classes while I wait around for Yumi. Jeremy waits for Yumi nearby.

"When do the decisions come out?" I ask.

"4 PM," she responds. "So I have to wait the entire day before getting the decisions."

"Text me if you need anything," I offer.

"Thanks Ulrich. I'll try to handle this one by myself though." She hugs me and then walks off with Jeremy to class. I catch up with Odd as he's walking to class.

"Did you make sure to tell Yumi how proud you are of her? Or whatever couples do these days," Odd says.

"Nah, we just talked about her nervousness," I reply. "She's worried things won't turn out right."

"They'll be fine. I don't even know how college works and I'm still here!"

"You do you, Odd," I say. We head to math class and I manage to pay attention, jotting down notes and doing the worksheets. I finish early and draw some more Yumis like Odd taught me. I doodle soccer formations and plays mindlessly, and when I'm bored with that I think about life without Yumi. _It'll be awfully weird,_ I tell myself. _No more sarcastic barbs, jokes about Odd, girl moments with Aelita. And no more of our shared embarrassments, awkward moments, and finally dates and long talks,_ I add. Life without Yumi was going to be strange and gut-wrenching, not just in a romantic way and not just for me either. The bell rings and I pack up, walking absentmindedly out of the classroom.

"Ulrich, wait up!" Odd calls. I turn around and stand for a moment while Odd runs up. "Didn't you hear me calling you? What's in your head now?"

"Odd, don't you think it'll be really weird without Yumi?" I ask. Odd shrugs.

"Of course it will. The hardest change will be for you, loverboy. But yeah, I guess so."

"She's been such a big part of our lives," I add.

"I'll miss making fun of you two and playing pranks on her," Odd says.

"I don't think she appreciated your pranks very much," I remark, grinning.

"You never really appreciate anything in the moment, you know? It's like cheese. The finest kinds have to age a while before you really look back and say, 'Hey, that was a good idea'."

"Slow down there, Socrates," I laugh. "Do you always have to make analogies to food?"

"I can make analogies to sleep if you want," Odd offers. "Or I can tie in my magnificent wisdom with the jokes I make about you two."

"I'm good," I say. "I didn't know you had that level of wisdom in you." Odd gets a little annoyed and punches me in the arm, which I then answer by slapping him. It feels like it might escalate for a moment, but we just shake hands and laugh it off. Good buddies, indeed.

I wait for Yumi on a bench in the afternoon. Odd and Aelita are playing tag while Jeremy keeps typing on his laptop. I check the time and it's 4:04. _She should be here any minute now._ I look around, only seeing other seniors nervously check their phones for their decisions. William walks by and I stop him.

"Hey," I greet. "Have you seen Yumi?"

"She's still in the building last I checked," William replies. "Shouldn't you know where she is?"

"She likes to have privacy for these types of things," I explain. "How did you do? Where'd you get in?"

"It wasn't too bad. I got rejected from my top choices but got accepted to a pretty good art school here in France."

"That's great to hear," I say. "Good luck wherever you go."

"Thanks, Ulrich." William gives a wave and walks off. I look around for a few more seconds. Aelita and Odd finish their game and join us at the bench. Finally, she shows up. She tries to hide the dejected look on her face but I notice it and my heart sinks.

"How did it go, Yumi?" Aelita asks gently.

"Rejected from Princeton and deferred from Oxford," she says, disappointed. "And deferred from Heildelberg as well."

"Those are really tough schools to get into," Jeremy says. "You at least still have a shot at regular admission."

"I don't have much wiggle room," Yumi sighs. "My two regular schools are one in the Netherlands and one here. They're both safety schools. I really just went boom-or-bust."

"It'll be alright," I say. "You might not have looked as good stacked against other impressive people, but you could shine in the general pool." She sighs again and slumps down on the bench.

"How about I sing some songs?" Odd suggests. "That'll cheer you up!"

"Thanks Odd, but I'd rather not hear it right now."

"Let's just give her some time alone," Aelita says to us. Jeremy and Odd nod and head off, but I stay. Aelita looks at me, then understands and leaves with the others.

"Tell me how you feel," I say.

"I don't know," she says simply. "I can't decide whether I should feel bad for being stupid with my choices or feel bad for being stupid in general."

"Yumi, you're not stupid," I say. "You did the right thing and went for it. Besides, the book hasn't closed yet."

"I should've at least applied to some decent places I could've gotten in," she says, dejected. "I was so overconfident I only applied to five colleges."

"You're a lot better than the rest of us. You're a lot better than a lot of people in your grade."

"I'm not good enough, apparently."

"Yumi, don't sell yourself short," I plead. "You know you're better than that. If you could put Lyoko Warrior on your application you'd be accepted everywhere."

"Look, I appreciate your efforts, Ulrich," she says. "But I just need some time alone right now. I hope you understand."

"Okay. I'll leave you alone. But if you ever need to blow off some steam I'll be in the gym." She smiles and waves as I walk back to the dorm. I keep turning around possibilities in my head. _Did I say something wrong?_ I wonder. _Or is it not personal to me? Maybe I'm the one who needs some time alone._ I didn't think I'd done anything wrong or said anything offensive. It struck me that I didn't really know how Yumi dealt with emotional stress since most of the time it had had something to do with me. I sigh and walk into my room. Kiwi's running around in circles and Odd's not there. I lay down with my head resting on my hands, staring at the ceiling.

* * *

Various screens pop up and close as I type on the supercomputer. Aelita watches me work, scanning the news broadcasts I have open. I'd been working every chance I got ever since it was confirmed that XANA was still alive, and I felt a rush of excitement and nostalgia opening my old programs.

"Superscan's fully functional, I can materialize everything fine, all the scanners are working," I report. "Anything interesting on the news?"

"Nothing," Aelita says, folding her arms. "I'm glad I don't sit around and watch the news all day. All they care to talk about is some famous celebrity's newest relationship or how bad the current leader in power is."

"No news is good news," I decide. "XANA's creeped up to 68% power, but nothing's happened yet. I'll keep going over these additional notes to see what I can find."

"XANA could be hiding something," Aelita wonders. "He's probably gotten smarter in the time since we destroyed him. Maybe he's better at masking his activity."

"You could be right," I agree. "But what can we do? All I can do is read through these notes and hope XANA doesn't get too much power back."

"There must be a way to slow the process," Aelita says. "He can't get all of his power just feeding off waste energy. At some point he has to level off, and I think it's at that point he starts launching his attacks to find new power sources."

"I'll read over the notes on XANA's structure," I promise. "Hopefully I'll be able to figure something out and start working on a program to counter his power increases."

"We'd better finish this quick," Aelita says. "Don't forget Yumi won't be with us anymore in six months. And the fact that we have our own lives to worry about too."

"I realize that," I reply. "I'm working as fast as I can. Don't yell at me for not sleeping since I have valid reasons this time."

"I know, nerd." Aelita smiles. "I'll do whatever I can to help you. Just make sure you get sufficient rest and keep up with school too."

"Yes, ma'am," I say. I keep flipping through the notes when something catches my eye. It's a section titled _XANA and the Connection to Lyoko._ I stop scrolling and start reading through the text.

"Aelita, take a look at this," I say. She leans on my chair and scans the text. _XANA is one with Lyoko, just as I, the creator, am. Thus, we are the only two who can manipulate Lyoko remotely. Although others can be granted the Keys to Lyoko, they do not have the level of manipulation that XANA and I do. We are both able to use Lyoko's features to create almost whatever we wish in the virtual world. This power does have its limits and requires proportional amounts of energy for the tasks executed._

"I think what the others saw is a product of this," Aelita says softly. "There's no other way XANA could have done it. Your calculations say XANA shouldn't be able to reenter Lyoko yet. But that doesn't stop it from carrying out other smaller tasks."

"But what does XANA plan to do with that lab?" I wonder. "And the notes don't say what kinds of tasks they should be able to carry out with different amounts of energy. For now all we can assume is that creating that lab and the people in it didn't consume enough energy for XANA to stop growing."

"I think Daddy programmed a smaller version of his powers into me," Aelita explains. "That's where the Creativity comes from. Everything the other warriors started with was programmable, and the vehicles and upgrades you programmed were too. But the ability to manipulate Lyoko itself is something only the one with knowledge of all of Lyoko would know how to program."

"He didn't give you the ability because you were too young," I realize. "You didn't understand what was happening yet."

"I love Daddy, but this whole backstory gives me the chills," Aelita says with a scared tone in her voice. "Why hasn't anyone from the military come back to finish their work yet? And I still don't know what happened to my mother."

"I'll do some research on Project Carthage," I say. "Now that you mention it, that's a good point. If Franz Hopper's original intent for XANA was really as a counter to a military program, then it's suspicious that no one has come after the supercomputer yet."

"I think that's enough for tonight," Aelita says, yawning. "I'm going to head back to the library and do some reading. I need something to wash away all these worries."

"I'm gonna read a little bit more and then I'll join you," I say. I awkwardly get out of my seat and give her a kiss on the cheek, which she chuckles at and gives me one too. Aelita leaves for the elevator and I turn back to the screen. I think back to the first days of the supercomputer. _Maybe Ulrich was right when he said I was in love with a virtual girl, and that was why I didn't shut it down,_ I think. We'd materialized Aelita, searched for her memory, and defended against XANA time and time again. And all this for…one girl who was trapped in the virtual world? It would've been much easier to shut the supercomputer down and forced XANA to remain dormant. _That's a stopgap solution, though,_ a voice tells me. Usually I have an emotional voice and a logical voice, but this one seems to be a combination of both. Logically, it wouldn't have made sense to just shut down the supercomputer and wait for some other fool to stumble on it and turn it on again. And emotionally, well…the girl of my dreams. Unless we managed to blow the supercomputer up somehow with XANA trapped in it shutting it down wouldn't do any good. I sigh at my pondering and wasted time and open up a browser. I search Project Carthage and the first few results are all about some musical.

"Figures that you wouldn't be able to find it that easily," I mutter. I was stuck. I could hack government files and find information on Project Carthage, but that would first require locating the correct files in the massive Internet and then ensuring that they wouldn't notice the breach. Impossible and too risky. Although Franz Hopper had talked about Project Carthage, most of his journal entries were him talking about the progress of Lyoko. I decide to start scanning the massive amounts of data recovered from the Core. Most of it is information on XANA and Lyoko. "Come on, Franz, you had to have hid it somewhere," I say. I click on the folder labeled Creation. There's information on programming as well as building the physical computer. And then…something catches my eye. A folder labeled Carthage. I click on it and an Access Denied label pops up and returns me to the folders screen. Over the next hour I try different codes and tricks and nothing works.

"Come on." I grit my teeth. I try a few more combinations and still nothing. I resort to old names of the Punic Wars. Hamilcar, Hannibal, Scipio, Sicily, Alps…nothing. I try Roman names that have nothing to do with the time period. I try Greek names. Nothing. _What haven't I done yet?_ I ask, frustrated. Then I realize…I haven't tried the origin of the Carthage. The Phoenicians. I type in Phoenicia and the file opens. It's a list of notes on the Project as well as videos of Franz Hopper. I click on the first one.

"Carthage. One of the great, often forgotten cities of history. Built by sea nomads, isolated, yet powerful through trade. The one rival Rome feared throughout its entire history. And today, we begin building our Carthage. _We_ seek to succeed where Carthage failed." I get a shiver watching Hopper describe his project. I skip through a few videos. Hopper records his videos not every day, but probably once a week or month. I get to something that catches my eye. "Day 867. I've decided…I've decided Project Carthage is too powerful. It was only meant to be able to disrupt enemy communications in times of war. But now…by my creation, Carthage has the potential to be able to disrupt any and all signals, as well as destroy the source. This is catastrophic." Hopper looks down solemnly for a moment, and then continues. "I have been removed as head of the project. They want to use this for world domination, to ensure that they are the only ones with access to communication. Without communication, no one can warn anyone about what is coming. Nothing can move. Not tanks, not airplanes, not ships. All forms of navigation and power can and will be disabled. We have gone too far."

My head spins as I comprehend what's happening. All this time we'd been fighting XANA's goals to take over the world, and here was a program that was already close to being able to do that…I keep watching.

"Day 1000. Anthea is pregnant with our daughter. I am both pleased at this new addition to our lives and horrified at the thought of bringing an innocent into our affairs when she is born. I have located an abandoned factory with enough equipment and power for the building of my new project. The fourth Punic War has begun." I skip to the last video. "Day 9248. It's been done. With the help of the Return to the Past, I have destroyed Carthage with XANA. But it's not over. They'll come after me. They want Anthea and me…and little Aelita if they can get her too. The virtualization process is almost complete…I just need…more time…" Hopper suddenly spins around in his chair.

"Daddy!" a young voice shouts. I see pink hair peek out of the doorway and Hopper shuts the video down. I eye the last video. It's marked with a date after the date Hopper virtualized himself and Aelita on Lyoko. My hand trembles as I open it. It's only an audio recording.

"Day 10000. I have hidden all traces of the evidence deep in the factory. The factory has been wiped off every map known to mankind. It has been abandoned and no one dares come near it. The building that houses the supercomputer, for all intents and purposes, does not exist. They've given up. They failed in both their missions, to activate Carthage and to eliminate us. I've failed too. XANA has become too powerful. The only way to prevent this new catastrophe is to shut the computer down…I begged Aelita not to forget me. We will be dormant, inactive humans trapped on a virtual world with another one of my disastrous projects. This is the price I pay for my actions. Goodbye, Earth." The recording ends and I take off the headset. My hands tremble and I reach for my phone. I'm frozen and I have no idea what to do. All this equipment…all of it meaningless in comparison to the cause it was built for. The ruins of Project Carthage, the single most dangerous project to all of humanity. Built by humans, designed for use by humans, with infinitely more potential than XANA ever had. I slump in the chair, still in shock.

* * *

 **Looks like Waldo has a bit of a pattern of projects not working out :/ Just kidding. Leave a review!**


	15. Chapter 15: New Challenges

It sucked. It stung like nothing I'd ever felt before. It was worse than being crushed by the Kolossus. And the worst part was I wasn't getting over it. It'd been a week since all the emails and I was still in a funk. At breakfast I nibble on a piece of dry toast and stare at my plate.

"Yumi, you have to get over this," my dad pleads. "We've explained that it's not the end of the world. Even though we pushed you to aim high it's ok if you miss." It was true. Everything my parents said was reasonable. So why was I still upset?

"How's Ulrich doing?" Hiroki asks. He wasn't messing around. I could tell by the tone in his voice it was an innocent question.

"Uh, he's fine, thanks for asking," I say awkwardly.

"Maybe Ulrich can help you with your stress," my mom says sweetly. "From what I hear he's a very kind gentleman."

"Uh, sure mom," I say, blushing. "Good idea. I'll go do it now. Let's go, Hiroki!" I pick up my bag and head out while Hiroki protests while chewing. I wait for him by the door and he eventually gets his stuff.

"Sis, why'd you wanna leave so fast?" he asks. "Couldn't wait to see Ulrich?"

"Maybe, actually," I reply.

"Oh, Ulrich, I looooove you," he cackles. I stare at him with a straight face and he gulps and stops.

"I still don't know what Mom and Dad really think," I ponder. "Maybe they disapprove completely and they just hide it because it's my last year."

"Mom and Dad are fine with it, stop worrying," Hiroki says. "It's just because they've never had to deal with their kids being in loooooooove." I roll my eyes and tune him out the rest of the way.

We get to Kadic and Hiroki runs off to his friends. I spot Ulrich heading into the gym with some of his soccer team. I follow them in and I see a bunch of guys dribbling balls around cones and bouncing balls on their heads. Some guys notice me and come over.

"Hey, what are you doing here? You're not here to watch practice, are you?" one of them says.

"I'm looking for someone," I reply.

"Hey, isn't that Ulrich's girlfriend?" another one says. "Ulrich, your girl's waiting for you here!" He turns his head and sees me. I give a little wave and he kicks away his ball and jogs over.

"Ulrich, you lucky man," the first one remarks. "You got a real winner."

"Can it, James. Get lost," he says. The guys run off and he turns to me. "I'm team captain this year so I can tell them what to do," he chuckles.

"Stern! What are you doing?! And Ishiyama, shouldn't you be going to class?" Jim yells from the other side of the gym.

"I shouldn't bother you right now," I say. "I'll leave." He grabs my hand.

"No, practice is almost over anyway," he responds. "Jim, practice is almost done! Everyone's packing the stuff up!" he yells across to Jim. "Anyways, did you need anything?"

"I wanted to talk to you but class starts in like 10 minutes anyway. We can talk after school."

"If you say so. Just tell me whenever you need me," he says and jogs back to join the team. I sling my bag over my shoulder and head to class.

That afternoon I take refuge in the rec room and look around. The junior class is getting out and still no sign of him as all the people stream out. I text him. **I'm ready. Meet me by the rec room.** A few minutes later he texts back, **Have to get Kiwi dog food. Meet you in a bit.** I roll my eyes at Odd's antics and constant favors for Ulrich. I play some of the new arcade games that the academy just purchased. After the fifth time I get eaten by a ghost on Pac-Man I get bored and walk away. Some sophomores are playing foosball and other middle schoolers are at the TV. Finally, I spot him rushing through the door, out of breath.

"Sorry. I got here as quickly as I could," he says, still panting.

"It's alright. Do you wanna go someplace quieter to talk?" I suggest. He nods and follows me out of the rec room. There's still snow on the ground outside but it's been a relatively warm winter. We find a bench that's snow-free and sit down. I shiver at the feeling.

"What's wrong, too cold for your butt?" Ulrich teases.

"Very funny," I say, rolling my eyes.

"What did you want to talk to me about?" he asks.

"I…I wanted your input on how I've been feeling," I say. "I'm sorry I turned you away. But I've just felt pretty worthless ever since that day and I'm not sure why."

"I think you need to let go of your high expectations," he says. "There are plenty of good schools and you're smart enough to figure it out wherever you go."

"I don't think it's that," I reply. "I got over not getting in. But it still bothers me for some reason, maybe the fact that I don't really do anything outside of Lyoko. I don't think they know who I am."

"Or maybe it's your first big shock of the real world," Ulrich suggests. "Deadlines, applications, stress."

"That's an interesting viewpoint," I comment. "You might be right. I don't know if I'm ready to leave this sheltered academy yet."

"I'll miss you when you go," Ulrich says, and in that moment I realize why I was sulking. It wasn't because of the fact that I was rejected, although that certainly hurt. It was because…it compounded on all of my other problems. The inevitability of leaving. The uncertainty of what lay ahead.

"Thanks for being here for me," I say softly. "I know I don't always show it but I really do appreciate it."

"I should thank you," he replies. "You've always been there to talk sense into me and make sure I'm not doing stupid things."

"You're right," I tell him. "It's not because of this specific event. It's an opening into a new life. A life without my friends, without Lyoko, without you."

"You're afraid of new things," Ulrich comments. "But so am I. Change is really scary."

"Not as scary as heights," I say and punch him in the arm.

"Heights aren't as scary as the day you have to learn to stop being so sassy," he responds. I laugh and lean in on him. He wraps an arm around me and hugs me tight. We sit in silence for a few minutes, absorbing each other's warmth. It's strangely silent and there's nobody within hearing distance. I feel a little uneasy but quash my doubts. I'll only get so many moments.

"Something wrong?" Ulrich asks. _He knows me too well._

"It's a little too quiet for my liking," I say. "But I'm sure it's nothing."

"I was about to say the same thing, actually," Ulrich admits. "There's usually a ton of people hanging out around here. It's not _that_ cold that people wouldn't come out here."

"Well, Einstein will call us if anything's up," I say. I snuggle with him and he smiles. We spend a few more minutes there until he starts shivering.

"It is a little too cold, let's be honest," Ulrich says. "Let's head back."

"To where?" I ask. "Odd sure doesn't want us in your room."

"We could stay at your place maybe?" Ulrich asks hopefully.

"Fat chance," I say, rolling my eyes. "My parents are okay with me dating but they haven't even met you yet. I can't just roll in with you and be like 'Hey this is Ulrich mind if he stays a few hours?'"

"There's a first for everything," he answers. "Come on, I'll stay just half an hour."

"Fine, but only because we have no place else to go today," I concede. "Don't expect it to be on the regular unless my family's not home, which they rarely ever aren't." Ulrich smiles giddily and I sigh.

"Let's take the way through the park," he says. "It'll be faster." I shrug and follow him. The snow crunches under my boots as we run through the forest. Suddenly Ulrich stops and I bump into him.

"Ouch! Why'd you stop?" I ask. He's frozen and hasn't turned around.

"Yumi, we were right about it being too quiet," Ulrich says. I get around him and gasp. Dozens of students are laying in the snow. They're spread out in a large clearing. I bend down and check the pulses of a few of them.

"It looks like they're all unconscious," I say. "But we better not stay here for long."

"XANA must have sent a specter," Ulrich says. "But why would he target other students? It's us he wants."

"Who knows? No time to find out." I open my phone and dial Jeremy. I get an immediate pickup.

"Yumi, perfect. I was just about to call you two. XANA's sent a specter."

"Yes, we know. It attacked the students and left them all in the park."

"That's strange. Maybe XANA hasn't got enough power to coordinate the specter's movements yet. Meet us at the factory, Odd's keeping the specter busy."

"Any idea who it is?" I ask worriedly.

"It's taken on the shape of Nicholas. Just get to the factory and it shouldn't be a problem." I hang up and turn to Ulrich.

"We better hurry."

"Well, we know the specter is actually a specter since the real Nicholas is right here," Ulrich says, pointing to his body on the ground.

"I don't feel comfortable leaving these kids here," I say. "It's in the middle of the forest. It's not just XANA that they'd be exposed to."

"I'll stay then. I'll find a place to move them and stay in touch with Odd. Who knows what that kid's gotten himself into."

"Okay, I'll head to the factory. Good luck." I wave and run off to the sewers. I climb down, grab my familiar skateboard and speed to the factory. I arrive and Jeremy and Aelita are in the Lab.

"Where's Ulrich?" Jeremy asks.

"I was worried for the students' safety so he offered to stay behind and watch them," I say. Jeremy nods and tells us to get into the scanners.

"The activated tower is in the mountain sector. I'm virtualizing you two now." A moment later I fall onto a bridge along with Aelita. The Overwing materializes in front of me.

"Ready to squash some bugs, Princess?"

"Ready whenever you are," she replies with her trademark spunk.

"The activated tower is due north by northwest. I'm sending you the coordinates now." I rev the Overwing and we speed off in the direction of the tower.

"Keep your eyes peeled," Aelita says. I zip through passages and under rock formations, and I spot the tower being shadowed by a cavernous opening. Three Tarantulas are guarding it.

"Hey Jeremy, I thought XANA didn't have the power to do this yet," I mutter.

"My calculations must have been off. I haven't studied through all the notes on XANA's functions. In any case, focus on deactivating this tower." The Tarantulas spot us and start firing. I quickly maneuver the Overwing to avoid the first laser blasts.

"What's your plan from here?" Aelita asks.

"I'll bring us down," I reply. I move down to the ground and hop off the Overwing. "Aelita, cover me and I'll attack," I command. Aelita nods and runs in front, activating her new shield against the Tarantulas' laser fire. The shield reaches so that it covers her entire body plus some. I run up and throw my two fans around her. One of the Tarantulas manages to shoot the fan out of the air but the other one slices through its Eye and it explodes. I command the fans to both reappear in my hands.

"These Tarantulas have gotten stronger," Aelita remarks. "Time for some new tactics."

"I got you, Princess," I say. I flip through rounds of laser fire and block them with my fans. A Tarantula starts heading towards me and firing while it walks. "Aelita, now!" I yell.

"Energy Field!" A pink ball smashes into the Tarantula's side and it explodes.

"Great job, just one more," I say, gritting my teeth. I pull out my kusarigama and start swinging it. The Tarantula sits and starts firing rapidly with both legs. I block the lasers with the scythe while Aelita launches Energy Fields at it. The Tarantula moves rapidly and is able to dodge all of them. I flip over and over and get closer to it. The Tarantula fires more lasers and I block them, while swinging at it with the mace on the tail end. The mace connects with the Tarantula's Eye and it stands still for a moment, then explodes.

"Nice one, Yumi," Aelita compliments, giving me a high-five.

"Great, now go deactivate the tower," Jeremy says. We run in front of the tower when suddenly a shadowy pool begins to form in front of us.

"Uh, Jeremy, what's this?" I ask nervously.

"I have no idea. I suggest you defeat it quickly." The pool begins to collect itself and form. It turns into…Odd. His eyes have the Eye of XANA, and he's covered in a shadowy red aura. He points his wrists at us.

"Looks like we're not finished here yet," I mutter. The XANA Odd starts firing and Aelita shields us from the Laser Arrows. The XANA Odd frowns and materializes a dark Overboard. He hops on and starts firing at us from above. I block the Arrows with the scythe end but each one pushes me a little further backwards. I swing the kusarigama and he flies barely out of reach to avoid it.

"Jeremy, we're gonna need some backup here," I call.

"I'll call Odd and Ulrich," he replies. "Although I don't know how they're handling the specter."

"It doesn't matter how they're handling it, if we can get rid of this copy and deactivate the tower then the specter will disappear," Aelita says, while firing Energy Fields at the XANA Odd.

"Alright, I'll see what I can do," Jeremy says. "I just hope they don't bring the specter here."

* * *

I decide after the first few kids that moving all of them isn't realistic. I huddle them all near each other to preserve warmth. There's probably around 20-25 kids in all. _This specter sure did them good,_ I think. I dial Odd's phone. No answer. I try again a couple more times and still don't get an answer. _Come on, what could he be up to now?_ I pace back and forth, undecided over whether I should go look for Odd or stay with the kids. Odd finally calls me back after a few minutes.

"Odd, what took you so long?" I ask.

"Maybe you forgot that fighting specters isn't easy," Odd pants over the phone. "I managed to lose him in the storage building but it won't last long."

"Make sure he doesn't come near the park or the factory," I order. "We don't want Einstein getting his butt kicked again."

"But don't they need our help on Lyoko?" Odd asks.

"I'm sure they can handle it. Our priority is making sure the specter doesn't do any more damage." I hang up and glance over at the students again. _XANA really is disgusting. Luckily he didn't do something worse to them._ I get a call again and I assume it's from Odd but it's from Jeremy.

"Ulrich, change of plans," Jeremy says. "Yumi and Aelita need backup on Lyoko. Get Odd and head over here immediately."

"But that'll lead the specter to the factory too!" I protest.

"It's a risk we have to take. We have to deactivate the tower at all costs."

"Okay. I'll call Odd and we'll head over there." I hang up and dial Odd's number.

"Ulrich? What is it now?" He sounds like he's running.

"Jeremy wants us over at the factory to help out on Lyoko. Get over to the park, I'm waiting in a clearing near the sewers."

"You go on ahead. I'll take care of roid rage Nicholas here."

"Alright. Good luck." I take one last glance at the students laying on the ground and take off for the factory. I arrive in the Lab and look at Jeremy expectantly.

"Where's Odd?" Jeremy asks.

"Keeping the specter busy," I reply. "What have we got here?"

"XANA's made an Odd clone, and he's no pushover," Jeremy says. "Yumi's losing too many life points. Get to the scanner immediately."

"Good thing you got the guy who's undefeated against Odd in battle," I say, smirking. I step into the scanner and Jeremy transfers me to the mountain sector. A moment later my Overbike materializes. I hop on and start speeding towards the tower.

"The activated tower shouldn't be far now," Jeremy says. "I'm sure if you see a shadowy figure riding an Overboard you'll be near it." I speed up the Overbike and zoom towards the tower. I see it in an opening, covered on three sides by a rock formation. The XANA Odd is flying through the air, shooting Laser Arrows. Aelita blocks them with her shield while Yumi throws her fans. I jump off the Overbike and slash at the Overboard, only to miss by a few inches. I land near Yumi and Aelita.

"Bout time some help showed up," Yumi mutters. "We can't reach him from the ground and he fires his arrows way too fast for us to attack."

"Shield!" Aelita yells. She jumps in front of us and deflects another wave of Laser Arrows. I throw some shurikens at the Odd and he dodges all of them. I try making them explode but they explode harmlessly over the Digital Sea.

"Jeremy, how do we beat this thing?" I call. No response. Uh oh. I block some more shots with my swords as the Odd comes closer.

"The specter must have caught up," Aelita says. "Jeremy's in trouble."

"Hopefully Odd can keep it busy," I mutter.

"One of us should go back and help," Yumi says. "Jeremy will be able to get to the controls faster if we can slow down the specter."

"Wanna try something we haven't done in a while?" I suggest to Yumi.

"What's that-oh. Sure, why not," Yumi says.

"On my count," I say. "One, two, three!" Yumi runs towards the Odd, deflecting Laser Arrows with her fans. She slides onto the ground and raises her legs up. "Super Sprint!" I yell as I speed towards Yumi. I land on her feet and she kicks me upwards. XANA Odd shoots at Yumi and she takes a couple of Laser Arrows, getting devirtualized. I stab a katana through the bottom of the Overboard and it begins to devirtualize. I land in front of Aelita and the XANA Odd jumps between us and the tower.

"Protect me, Ulrich," Aelita says. "It's me the Odd is after." The Odd begins to shoot rapidly and I quickly move my blades to deflect each shot. Aelita throws some more Energy Fields but the Odd flips out of the way to dodge them.

"Alright, bub, prepare to take another L," I mutter. I stick my katanas together and create the double edged staff.

"Do you have a plan?" Aelita asks.

"No."

"Do you think this will work?"

"Probably. Super Sprint!" I run towards him and the Odd fires rapidly at me. I deflect every single Laser Arrow with the ends of the staff. "Triangulate!" I yell. I surround the XANA Odd with a triangle barrier and my two clones. The Odd roars and fires rapidly, and I almost get hit by one of the arrows. While he turns his back to me I rush in. I twirl the staff, kick the Odd into the air and stab him with the staff. The XANA Odd snarls as it reduces to smoke and blows away.

"Nice one, Ulrich," Aelita says.

"The tower is right this way, Princess," I say, motioning towards the tower. She smiles and runs in. A few moments later a light comes out of the tower and we're engulfed by it. I close my eyes, and when I open them I'm back in the gym at Kadic. I see Yumi being surrounded by some of my teammates and I walk over.

"Can it, James," I repeat, and they all go away. "So? What happened at the Lab?"

"The specter went after Jeremy after it knocked out Odd. It was beginning the process to devirtualize you all but I managed to stall it. After that Jeremy launched the Return to the Past."

"I don't like the look of these clones of us," I mutter. "There have to be more XANA's created."

"Ishiyama! Shouldn't you be heading to class? And Stern, what are you doing! You're the team captain!" Jim yells.

"Jim, there's 10 minutes left of practice," I shout back.

"We can talk about it with the others this afternoon," Yumi says. I nod and go back to the locker room while she leaves for class.

I meet the rest of the group that afternoon at the vending machines. Yumi's drinking a cup of coffee and Odd's pacing back and forth.

"XANA created a clone of me? That must mean he respects my fighting ability the most," Odd proclaims.

"Or it's because you were the easiest to generate because you're the weakest," I tease. Odd glares at me.

"I think that was what we saw in that Lab in the core," Yumi says. "XANA's creating clones of us to be able to fight against us."

"Remember that XANA is still a program," Jeremy reminds us. "Even though these clones may have all of your weapons and abilities, they still don't possess the ability to think like a human. XANA also appears to have based them off the earliest avatars of you all, which is why that Odd didn't have any of the real Odd's new upgrades."

"XANA could figure out how to program them in time though," Aelita says. "And that Odd did have some perks of its own even if it wasn't as strong as our actual avatars."

"What bothers me is the fact that XANA was able to launch an attack," Yumi says, looking sideways at Jeremy.

"XANA's gained some of its powers on Lyoko back, but it still hasn't gained the powers of coordination," Jeremy says. "That specter didn't know how to look for us so it resorted to beating other kids."

"The point is that XANA is back," I say. "Einstein, you have to figure out a way to destroy him permanently or else we'll be doing this for the rest of our lives."

"Well, I've got a piece of slightly good news for you all," Jeremy says.

"What is it? Spill," Aelita says eagerly.

"XANA's capped out his power increases," Jeremy says. "He's stuck at 75%. Which means he's only able to launch very basic attacks."

"And you think XANA's just going to stop there?" Yumi says, raising an eyebrow. "He could find other ways to increase his power."

"XANA will start going back into the Web and attempt to take over supercomputers like he did before, I think," Jeremy proposes. "His attacks will mainly be distractions. Who knows, he might even attack the Core again."

"If you've noticed, Einstein, your calculations have been 0-2 now," Odd remarks. "Maybe you should read up some more before you make any predictions about XANA." I expect Jeremy to start sulking, but instead he nods.

"I agree, Odd. XANA's gotten a lot smarter even if it isn't as powerful as it was before. I'll do some more analysis and go over Hopper's notes, and the rest of you be on the lookout."

"In the meantime, you all should come to my short film presentation tonight," Odd says.

"You're working on another one of those?" I ask. "I didn't even know that."

"Yeah. Fittingly enough it features Nicholas! You all better be there." Odd grins stupidly and I shake my head.

"We'll be there, Odd," Aelita promises, and walks off with Jeremy.

"That's one Romeo and Juliet coming," Odd says. "What about the other?"

"Not exactly a romantic movie, I know," I say apologetically to Yumi. She smiles.

"No worries. We'll come." Odd fist pumps in the air and runs off.

"Do you actually want to see another one of those?" I ask. "They always involve making fun of someone and some plotline with Godzilla."

"Art is open to interpretation," she says coolly. "Besides, Odd always comes to your games."

"True," I say, shrugging. "What's gotten into you? You've never been into Odd's short films."

"If I only have months left of them, better overdose on them before I don't have a source of comic relief anymore."

"Alright, Miss Sentimental. You win." She kisses me on the forehead and winks.

"Thanks for understanding."

* * *

 **As always, any suggestions for where to take this fanfic next are welcome. I have the ending mapped out but I don't know how I want to get there. Hope you enjoyed this chapter, and leave a review!**


	16. Chapter 16: Magnificence

**Took a shot at what I've been avoiding doing and wrote in Odd's POV. Let me know how I did. I can't really tell what goes on in that kid's head, so I did my best guess of what does, which involves a lot of food and jokes. Enjoy, and review!**

* * *

I, Odd the Magnificent, wake up on a beautiful morning completely free of XANA attacks and classes. It's been a few weekends or so since that first freaky XANA attack, but let's be real, nothing scares Odd the Magnificent. Well, except for if Kiwi ever went missing. I look around at our room. Kiwi and Yumi's whipping boy-I mean, boyfriend are still asleep. _I'm the one up early? That must mean I'm hungry._ I shower, brush my teeth, and style up my hair Lyoko-style as usual. When I get back to the room Ulrich's up and getting a towel.

"Hey, good buddy," I say cheerfully. "Another Sunday free of all the worries in the world. What are you doing today?"

"Me? I'm gonna go into town and walk around a little. Staying at Kadic gets stuffy after a while."

"Going with your girl again?" I ask.

"Yeah, why? You're welcome to come if you want."

"Nah. I think I'm gonna stick with sleep and food. Although bring me back some food if you have leftovers!"

"Whatever you want, good buddy," Ulrich says, and goes to the showers. I pet Kiwi on the head and he whines.

"Aw, Kiwi, have this," I say, giving him a dog treat. Kiwi scarfs it down and then sits contentedly. _No skate shows, no films, no XANA attacks, life is really boring,_ I think. _What can I do today?_ I'm not really digging skating and I don't want to work on my movie either. Maybe I should go see that new zombie movie. Or just go with Yumi and Ulrich. After all, those two still bristle when I talk about them so it shouldn't be that bad.

Ulrich comes back from the showers with a towel draped across his shoulders.

"Ready to head to breakfast?" he asks.

"Sure thing. I wanna come with you guys to town today though."

"Why the sudden change of heart, Odd? I hope it's not so you can make fun of us the whole time."

"Partially," I say, chortling awkwardly. Ulrich glares at me. "But mostly because I feel you. I'm bored here too."

"We'll see if Yumi agrees. If she does then you can come."

"What? You don't have to agree to everything she says you know!"

"It's a question of mutual agreement, not who gets to make all the decisions," Ulrich corrects.

"Whatever you say. Let's go." We head to the cafeteria and I grab a bunch of croissants from Rosa. We spot Jeremy and Aelita sitting together and sit down next to them.

"Hey guys, how's it going?!" I exclaim.

"Jeremy, why didn't you tell me this earlier?" Aelita asks, ignoring me.

"Hey, what's going on?" I ask, confused. Aelita turns to me.

"Jeremy was just filling me in on Project Carthage," Aelita says. "It's dead now but it's a big reason why my father had to do what he did."

"What happened to it?" Ulrich asks.

"Basically, Project Carthage got out of hand and Hopper created XANA to counter it," Jeremy explains. "XANA succeeded, but got the job done too well, since he turned on Hopper too."

"And now we're stuck with this mess," I comment. "All because some top secret government division was too smart for their own good."

"If you want to put it that way, sure," Jeremy responds. "Anyways, I'm going to be at the lab today to continue doing research. I found out that the way XANA's structured, he can't just gain all his remaining power back from being on Lyoko. The multi-agent system damaged him too much for that. Instead, he has to find another, powerful enough external source to feed on. The Return to the Past also won't help him regain his power since it only serves to strengthen him if he's at full capacity, but he's not."

"So he'd feed off another supercomputer with a similar capacity as ours," Aelita concludes.

"Exactly. Our job is to make sure that doesn't happen. The Skid should be ready in a week or less, and if we come across any worlds that are even bigger than the Replikas, then we'll be ready to destroy that supercomputer."

"XANA can still be up to no good even without all his power," Ulrich counters. "It looks like while he won't be able to launch powerful attacks he can still scheme things behind the scenes, like those clones."

"And how will we ever destroy XANA if he can just escape into the network as pieces?" Aelita asks worriedly.

"That's the other main question I'm working on," Jeremy replies. "If I can devise a way to keep XANA in one of the worlds, whether it be Lyoko or somewhere else, and then activate the anti-XANA program, our troubles should be gone for good."

"Hey guys, what's all this leaning in about?" Yumi asks as she sits down next to Ulrich. "Did Einstein make a new program?"

"Not quite," Ulrich replies. He explains everything to her and she nods in understanding.

"I'm guessing it's not as easy as it sounds," I say.

"You guessed it, Odd," Jeremy says. "To develop a program that can both trap XANA and destroy him takes a lot of time and complex coding. I'm still learning from Franz Hopper's notes."

"Jeremy, you should take a little break," Aelita says soothingly. "It's Sunday, there's no classes, and it's pretty warm out."

"Maybe just for half an hour or so," Jeremy concedes. Aelita smiles and gives him a quick peck on the cheek.

"Ready to go into town, Ulrich?" Yumi asks, smiling. My good buddy looks awkwardly at me and then whispers something in Yumi's ear. She looks at me for a moment and then excuses herself and Ulrich. I say goodbye to Jeremy and Aelita and follow them out.

"Odd, why do you want to come with us?" Yumi asks curiously. It feels like she's half interested and half annoyed.

"Hanging out with my skate pals is kinda boring," I say sheepishly. "I chill with them all the time."

"You hang out with us a lot more than they do," Ulrich remarks.

"Yeah, but, I wanna do something today and I like you guys more than anybody else."

"Well, whatever," Yumi says, shrugging. She might be annoyed, but I can't tell even if she is. We walk through the gates and into the city. It's a lot busier than I expected on a Sunday morning. I realize that Yumi and Ulrich have both walked in front of me, and I'm now lagging behind them. I watch them closely to see if I can find any embarrassing PDA moments to share for later, but none so far. Oh well. Patience is the key to success.

"Where are we going first, Ulrich?" I ask.

"Yumi wants to stop by and grab some spring clothes, so that's where we're going," he replies.

"Spring clothes? What else do you wear besides dark tops and sweatpants?" I ask.

"Some of them are getting too small," she says, shrugging. "I might try on some new colors this year too, who knows. Besides, at least I think to have multiple pairs of the same outfit so I don't smell magnificently awful." Ulrich laughs and I roll my eyes.

"You're hilarious."

"Thanks, Odd!" she holds up a V sign and grins.

"Don't sulk, Odd, we can look for some new shoes while Yumi shops," he says, patting my back. We go into the store and I'm hit with the familiar sights of endless hangers and stacks of shoe boxes. Yumi goes off into the women's section and I eye the clothes there.

"I know what you're thinking, Odd, but no girl is ever going to go out with you because you bought a bra for her," Ulrich says, interrupting my thoughts. "So drop the idea."

"Who says that's what I was thinking about?" I retort. "Come on, let's look at some shoes." We walk into the aisles filled with boxes and my eyes settle on one of the Skechers models. It's a dark purple, the same shade as my favorite color, and it's got cool straps that hold it together. I pick the shoe up and examine it, letting out a purr of approval.

"Skechers with Velcro? What are you, eight?" Ulrich sneers.

"I like the color. Besides, the important part of skate shoes is that they work, not how they look."

"You do you, Mr. Magnificent," Ulrich says. He picks up a sleek pair of basketball shoes with a yellow and black colorway and a big Nike logo. There's a triangle shape thingy on the back of them.

"Are you cheesy enough that you have to match your Lyoko outfit now?" I ask.

"These are Kobes, Odd," Ulrich says, annoyed. "They just happen to have the same colors that I like."

"Whatever, Mr. Future All-Star." I look around at some more shoes and decide I don't want anything, and I head to the clothes part of the store. Ulrich picks out a pair of basketball shoes and comes over to me.

"Find anything for your 'svelte' torso yet?"

"Nah, but I think this would look great on you," I say, holding up a bro tank with stripes. Ulrich cringes.

"Never in a million years," he replies. We look around some more before Yumi finds us. She's holding a basket full of clothes.

"Hey Ulrich, can you come and tell me how I look in these clothes?" she says cheerily.

"Sure thing, Yumi," Ulrich responds.

"Wait, you're not gonna go with her into the changing room, are you?" I ask, raising an eyebrow. Yumi stares icily at me.

"Of course not. Ulrich's going to wait outside for me," she says, glancing at him. He nods but I see a flash of disappointment cross his face and I stifle my laughter.

"I hope you didn't forget protection!" I call as they both leave for the changing rooms. They tell me to shut up simultaneously and I smile. Those two were so easy to rattle, but I was happy for both of them. They got along pretty well even though it wouldn't look like it sometimes. _Now you gotta find that special one, Odd,_ I think. I'd always been a roamer, a nomad with my love life. I don't mind dating just to date but I also wouldn't mind having a serious relationship. Maybe Odd the Magnificent will be doomed to forever remain single, but hey, all the more time for hilarious films and sweet skate tricks if I do!

* * *

Jeremy has his hands in his pockets and keeps looking around as we walk.

"What are you so nervous about?" I ask.

"I'm just thinking," he replies.

"About?"

"You know. XANA and stuff."

"At this point I think you think about it more than I do. Don't let it get to your head."

"It's just how I am. Besides, it doesn't go to my head. I've been doing computer science and quantum physics for years," he says, shrugging.

"Still, you should learn to have fun. We should go on more dates, like Yumi and Ulrich."

"Maybe tonight. I think I might have time."

"Wow, I'm surprised you didn't book yourself dinner with a supercomputer," I say sarcastically. He looks ashamed and I start to feel bad for saying that.

"I'm sorry, Aelita," he says quietly. "I know I really should devote more time to you. I get caught up in my work too often."

"It's okay, Jeremy," I answer. "I understand you're not the type of person who wants to go out and socialize all the time. But I'd appreciate it if we had fun every once in a while."

"I've been listening to your demo while I work," Jeremy admits. "It sounds fantastic. I was planning to come to your next show."

"That's great, Jeremy," I say, smiling. "But I don't have a live show for this one. The Subdigitals are working on their new album so they're not doing any tours at the moment. But they did say they'll get in touch with some production companies soon."

"That's exciting!" Jeremy exclaims. "You're on your way to being a star!"

"Not exactly," I say, blushing. "The music industry's tough. You have to work your way up the ladder one step at a time."

"We'll be rooting for you," Jeremy says. We walk past the track where some of the boys are doing drills and exercises. The science building is nearby and behind that, the park.

"Jeremy, why didn't you tell us about Carthage earlier?" I wonder.

"I was trying to gather more information so I could have the complete story. I didn't want to freak you all out."

"But Project Carthage is dead. Why not just tell us earlier?"

"I was a little shocked, to be honest. And then the attack happened and I just kind of forgot about it."

"Hm. Well next time, don't hide stuff like that from us."

"I wasn't trying to hide it!" Jeremy protests. "It just slipped my mind, I swear." It's a little cute when he gets worked up and defends himself. I tell him it's alright and we keep walking. We turn the corner of the building and bump into William.

"Hey, guys," he says. His tone of voice has a hint of suspicion and he's staring at us.

"Hey, William," I greet. I look at Jeremy and he's just looking at him.

"I've been meaning to talk to you for a while," William says. "I never got the chance to do it alone though."

"What do you want to talk to us about?" Jeremy asks. William frowns.

"I'm alone in the art studio, just painting and minding my business, and suddenly I'm back to where I was in the morning. I wonder what could've done that. Oh right, a Return to the Past."

"It's nothing to worry about," Jeremy says quickly.

"It's definitely something to worry about," William answers, frustrated now. He leans in and starts whispering. "XANA must be back, am I right? Otherwise there'd be no need to do a Return to the Past."

"XANA is back," I say calmly. William's look of annoyance turns to nervousness. "But don't worry. We're doing everything we can."

"Don't worry? Easy for you to say since you weren't the one forced to do XANA's grunt work for months."

"XANA possessed me several times and forced me to destroy entire sectors of Lyoko," I counter. "We're working as fast as we can to counter XANA. And if that results in Returns to the Past more than we'd like, so be it."

"I'm not chopped liver, you know," William says. "If you guys need any extra help I'm here."

"Thanks William, but we're good right now," Jeremy tells him. William's face darkens and I feel like he's going to storm off again. "XANA will target you since you were pretty effective for him. It's safer for us and you if you stay out of it."

"I see how it is," William grumbles.

"William, please wait," I plead. "It's true the others haven't really warmed up to you. But I think you can contribute a lot to our team.

"That's what you told me last time too," William retorts. "And that didn't work out so well either."

"If XANA wants to go after you, then so be it. We'll keep you on call and at the first sign of trouble we'll call you. Does that sound fair?"

"I guess," William shrugs. "I'm just not a bad person. I hate that you all think I can't be trusted just because I'm targeted the most."

"Don't worry, we'll call you whenever we need you. And if you want to come anyway, all the merrier," I say, smiling. Jeremy casts a sideways glance at me. He has the look that he has when he does something without the team's approval. I suddenly hear a beeping from Jeremy's bag and he gets his laptop out and opens it.

"Activated tower," Jeremy says grimly.

"Cool, so this means I get to come, right?" William asks hopefully.

"We'll see what the attack is, and then formulate a plan," I tell him.

"Hey, what's Rosa doing here?" William asks, pointing. She's coming towards us with a pan and a dead look on her face.

"I don't like the look of that," Jeremy says nervously.

"Let's run for it," I agree. We start sprinting and Rosa roars. She hurls a lightning bolt and it lands in front of us, scorching the earth. "Yep, definitely possessed," I mutter.

"Let's get some weapons and defend ourselves!" William shouts. We run towards the shed and William goes inside. Rosa's hot on our tracks.

"William! You wanted to be useful, right?! Hold off Rosa while we go deactivate the tower!" Jeremy yells.

"I'll do what I can!" he replies.

"Better make it quick," I murmur, as Rosa advances on us. William suddenly bursts out of the shed and hits her with a rake. She screams and follows him, shooting lightning out of her hands.

"Come on, let's go," Jeremy says, taking my hand. We run through the forest and Jeremy starts dialing on his phone. "Odd? Yeah, get over here right now! XANA's launched another attack! Bring Ulrich and Yumi too! William's taking care of it here." He hangs up as we reach the sewer entrance. "The others are on their way," he pants. "I'll…virtualize…you…first." We get to the factory and I head down to the scanner room. I step in and Jeremy starts up the virtualization process. I materialize in the desert sector and Yumi's Overwing appears in front of me.

"Thanks, Jeremy," I call.

"The activated tower is at the edge of that peninsula," Jeremy says. "I'm sending you the coordinates, get going. The radar's picked up four Krabs and two Megatanks guarding the tower."

"Heavy artillery this time," I remark. "Let's go."

* * *

"Don't worry, Yumi, we can do a Return to the Past so you'll be able to shop again," Ulrich gasps as we sprint for the sewers.

"XANA, always gotta be ruining a leisurely Sunday," Yumi grumbles. "Odd, did Jeremy say what the attack was?"

"No, but he said William was handling it."

"William?" Yumi questions. "Interesting."

"I don't know if he's exactly the most useful guy to fight XANA," Ulrich says.

"Whatever Einstein says. We've got a tower to deactivate!" We reach the sewers and each grab our skateboards, jumping the water channels and sliding down the stairs. We sprint across the bridge, slide down to the elevator and take it down to the Lab.

"About time you guys got here," Jeremy says. "Aelita's all alone and taking cover near the tower. Get to the scanners immediately." We head down and Jeremy transfers us. I land on my paws on hot sand.

"Yow!" I yip. "This is totally different from the weather we have right now."

"Aelita took the Overwing so I materialized the Overboard and Overbike," Jeremy calls. I hop on my trusty board while Yumi gets on with Ulrich on the Overbike.

"Aw, how romantic," I remark.

"Odd, we have a job to do," Ulrich snaps. "Let's go." We speed off to the edge of the sector and I see the welcoming committee in the distance.

"Looks like XANA sent us some seafood today. Too bad I'm not hungry for crab," I say.

"And some bowling balls too," Yumi mutters. We find Aelita hiding behind some rocks and we get off our vehicles to join her.

"Hey, Princess," I exclaim. "Hope you didn't miss us too much."

"Not in the slightest, Odd," she replies. "What's our plan? The Megatanks are behind the Krabs, so if we try to charge in they'll just blast us."

"Odd and Aelita should fly above and attack the Megatanks from behind," Ulrich says. "As soon as you two destroy them or lure them away, Yumi and I will take care of the Krabs."

"Sounds like a plan," Aelita says. "Ready, Odd?" I nod and hop on the Overboard. Aelita activates her wings and we fly towards the monsters.

"The Krabs will shoot at us, watch out," Aelita warns. The Krabs charge up their lasers and start shooting, and I swerve on the Overboard.

"Not too bad," I say, grinning. "Whoa!" I quickly move out of the way as I barely dodge a Megatank blast.

"XANA's not going to lay flat and let us attack one at a time," Aelita says. "Fly in closer to the Megatanks!" We drop lower, past the Krabs and heading straight for the indestructible balls. The Megatank opens itself up to charge another blast.

"Laser Arrow!" I shout, shooting a spray of arrows towards it. They somehow all miss and the Megatank fires another blast that we have to dodge. "I can't believe it!" I exclaim. "I'm such a terrible shot!"

"Energy Field!" Aelita yells, sending a pink ball towards the first Megatank. It closes its shell right as the ball hits. The second Megatank starts charging up its blast. I get an idea of inspiration, courtesy of Ulrich.

"Hey! Over here!" I yell. The Megatank turns and starts charging in my direction. I fly behind the other ball right as it fires. The blast strikes the Megatank, pushing it towards the edge. I fly upwards to get out of the way and the blast eventually pushes the Megatank over, making it fall into the Digital Sea.

"Nice one, Odd!" Aelita compliments. "Let's take care of the other one!"

"Aelita, fire when it opens!" I command. I fly down close to it and start shooting it with arrows. The Eyes of XANA around it start glowing red, indicating charging. The ball suddenly opens, exposing its Eye. It's about to fire a blast. "Aelita, now!"

"Energy Field!" Aelita throws a blast at the Megatank and I zoom out of the way. The ball hits the Eye right as it fires the blast. Aelita flies out of the way of the blast as the Megatank explodes.

"Good aim, Princess!" I call to her. She holds up a thumbs up. I glance over at Yumi and Ulrich. Two of the Krabs are gone and they've surrounded the last one. Ulrich sprints around the Krab, forcing it to turn and fire randomly. Yumi flips and lands on the Krab and slices it with her fan. She jumps off as the Krab explodes.

"Alright, nice one!" I cheer. Suddenly, a fan slices into Ulrich.

"Agh! What the…" he yells as he devirtualizes.

"Yumi! Why'd you do that?" I shout.

"That wasn't me, Odd. Look!" she shakes her head and points to in front of the tower. A dark, shadowy Yumi clone stands in front of it and catches her fan. She smirks and unfolds both her fans.

"Oh no," Jeremy remarks. "The second of XANA's clones."

"That is not cool," Yumi mutters. She throws both her fans at the clone and the clone flips out of the way to avoid them.

"I really wish XANA were more original," Aelita complains. "Energy Field!" She hurls a ball at the clone and the clone again flips out of the way.

"Keep firing!" I call. "I've got an idea!" The clone throws her fans at Aelita and she has to fly out of the way, but on the return one of the fans slices her wing and she falls to the ground. Yumi stands protectively in front of her.

"Yahhh!" Yumi throws a fan and controls it telekinetically to move towards the clone. The clone blocks the spinning fan with her own, grabs it, and crushes it in her hands. "Well then," Yumi says disappointedly. "Jeremy, I'm gonna need a new fan."

"Try to stall while I program a new one," Jeremy says.

"Teleportation!" I yell. I teleport behind the Yumi clone and extend my claws, but she rams a kick into me and I get sent flying. I land with half my body hanging over the Digital Sea. I get up and see Yumi flipping to dodge the clone's fans. The clone starts rushing in and Yumi pulls out her kusarigama. Aelita hurls Energy Fields and the clone absorbs them into her fans. I start running towards the action again. Yumi wraps the kusarigama around the clone and hits her with the mace end of the weapon before hurling her towards me.

"Time for the Magnificent to finish this!" I scream. I extend my claws again and rush towards the clone. She snarls and unfolds her fans. We fight claw and fan, clashing and creating sparks each time we hit. I swing my right claw and lock with one of her fans, and I block her attempt with the other fan with my left claw. She snarls and roars at me angrily as we're deadlocked. "Sorry, you lose!" I say, smiling widely. I make a sharp downward motion with my claws, knocking the fans out of her hands. "Laser Arrows!" I shout, firing rapidly from my wrists. The arrows all hit and she growls as she disintegrates.

"Great job, Odd!" Jeremy says excitedly. "Aelita, get into the tower."

"That was some quick thinking, Odd," Yumi compliments. "I'm impressed."

"Couldn't have done it without your help," I say cheesily. "That rope thing of yours really does come in handy." Yumi raises an eyebrow and I beam sheepishly. A moment later the bright white light comes out of the tower and covers everything.

I find myself with the group back at the breakfast table. I realize I don't have the same number of croissants as I did this morning and quickly correct it by stealing some from Ulrich.

"These clones have gotten a lot stronger," Aelita says. "The Odd one could only fly around and be annoying to hit. This Yumi one had some serious defensive ability."

"I'm sure I would've gotten rid of it quickly if it hadn't done that cowardly sneak attack," Ulrich says grumpily.

"Let everyone else have a chance in the warrior spotlight," I tell him. "This fight was fun! Maybe you'll get to fight yourself, who knows."

"It looks like XANA's just going to use these clones as more guardians of activated towers," Yumi says. "We're going to have to train more if we want to defeat them faster."

"We have backup now too," Aelita says. We all look at her strangely except for Jeremy. "I invited William to be an extension of our group. He'll come if we need backup and handle some stuff here as well."

"Does anyone have a problem with that?" Jeremy asks. "I guess he proved his worth by fending off XANAfied Rosa. He's a useful asset to have." We all shrug.

"I guess," Ulrich says.

"Sure, why not," Yumi adds.

"Meh," I say, chewing on a croissant.

"Then it's decided. William will come when we need him and he'll also help us defend against XANA's attacks here." Just as Jeremy finishes talking William walks in and comes towards us.

"Those XANA attacks sure are painful," he says, holding his side. "That electricity stings pretty badly."

"You shouldn't feel anything from the Return to the Past though," Aelita says, concerned.

"I know. I was just emphasizing for effect. Anyways, Jeremy, why don't you ever defend yourself?"

"Huh?" Jeremy says, confused.

"Yeah. Get Ulrich and Yumi to give you some lessons or something. Or at the least keep some tools and weapons in the Lab."

"It's not a bad idea," Ulrich comments. "The Specters and possessed people always go after you, Einstein. You should have something to defend yourself with."

"Physical activity's not really my thing," Jeremy says.

"How about this? Ulrich and I are going shopping again anyway. We can pick up some tools to store in the Lab for Jeremy to use to defend himself."

"It's a very thoughtful idea, William," Aelita says. "I told you you'd contribute a lot here."

"I'm just trying my best," he says with a wave of his hand. "I'm going to go repaint my stuff from earlier today, see you guys." He walks out of the cafeteria and towards the art building.

"Well, Pretty Boy is an official Lyoko Warrior now," I remark.

"Einstein, maybe you should change the code on the elevator too," Ulrich says. "And up the security or something. I don't want William wandering in the lab by himself."

"Relax, Ulrich," Aelita says. "He can be trusted. He wants to help."

"I think it's time to go shopping again," Yumi announces. "Sorry, Odd, but I don't want you to come this time. Once is enough."

"How hurtful," I say, clutching my chest mockingly.

"I agree. Sorry, good buddy," Ulrich says with an apologetic look. "You can go find someone else to go to town with." He gets up and leaves with Yumi.

"Jeremy? Aelita?" I say pleadingly.

"Sorry, I'm going to work on deciphering more notes," Jeremy says. Aelita glares at him.

"No way. We already wasted one Sunday, now we're going to have fun when we replay Sunday again," Aelita says.

"Can I come? To wherever you guys are going?" I say. Aelita smiles.

"Sorry, Odd, but I'd like to have some time alone with Jeremy if you don't mind." She gives him a kiss on the cheek and he turns red. I sigh.

"Fine. In time, the world will know about the third wheeling talents of Odd the Magnificent! He can make any awkward date fun and exciting!" Jeremy and Aelita laugh and exit the cafeteria. I stare at all the croissants left at the table. "Well, at least I still have you buddies," I say, smiling at them.


	17. Chapter 17: Red Card: XANA

**So this chapter is a mess and essentially could be an entire episode on its own. I didn't realize how long it was until I saw the word count and was like D: POV order goes Ulrich, Yumi, Jeremy, Yumi, Jeremy, Ulrich. Apologies for any confusion. Enjoy, and review!**

* * *

It had been really the first time we'd fought since we started our relationship. It happened right as we went shopping the second time.

"Why did you let Odd come with us?" she said in a low voice.

"I thought he was getting lonely at the academy. So I said it was okay if he came along."

"So you put me in a position where I couldn't say no."

"That wasn't it at all. How was I supposed to expect you would ask to leave at the breakfast table in front of everyone?" I shoved my hands in my pockets and she glared at me.

"I don't need to remind you that we have a little less than five months left," she growled. "We need to cherish these moments we have."

"It's not just five months with me," I retorted. "It's five months with our entire group."

"We do plenty of things as a group," she said angrily. "We don't have enough time to do things together."

"Fine, we'll keep our group activities and relationship ones separate."

"Just let me know next time before you make any guarantees." She let out a "humph" and turned away from me as we reached the store.

"It wasn't a guarantee, but whatever," I said to myself.

We'd made up since then but I still had my reservations. I didn't know why she was suddenly so annoyed by it, and I was surprised she hadn't brought it up earlier or acted more hostile towards Odd. Things were still pretty normal at Kadic. Infrequent XANA attacks, maybe once a week, and class. Jeremy was making slow but steady progress on his programs. Overall, it was like normal high school life with a bit of XANA sprinkled on top.

"Ricky, you hyped?" James asks. We're in the locker room after morning practice. He rewraps his knee in tape and beats his bare chest. "First game of the season, and it's against Central Prep. Let's whoop their asses!"

"Cool it," I reply. "We play them three times this season. This first game won't mean much. You should still be ready to put the clamps on their striker though. I heard they got this freshman phenom this year."

"You better score at least 20 goals this year, Ricky!" another one of my teammates calls. I turn around and it's Fran, a tall dude with long black hair. He's been our goalie the past four years and done an amazing job. Most of the games we lost last year during that terrible season were by one goal deficits.

"I'll do my best, man," I say, holding a thumbs up. As great as Kadic is sports are not exactly a priority. Jim coaches most of them which means we don't often have multiple sports in the same season. Despite that, our soccer team still competes at the highest division in our region. We're expected to be a playoff team this year with our accumulated experience and some fresh talents joining. I change into my school clothes and leave the locker room early as usual. When I get outside I see a girl with short black hair dressed in a flowery crop top and sweatpants. She's leaning against one of the beams of the building support.

"Season kickoff tonight," she murmurs.

"I hope you're coming to watch," I reply.

"Of course I am. Wouldn't want to miss the captain and star of the team's start to his potentially amazing season."

"Stop it, you. You're flattering me."

"Or maybe you think too highly of yourself, Ronaldo," she says, smirking.

"I think Ronaldo's overrated. You of all people should know I think that by now."

"Whatever, big shot. Just hope there's not a XANA attack and pray you don't roll an ankle or something."

"XANA, out of my control. The field is kind of slippery from all the melted snow though." I hear the bell ring and decide I should probably take off. I give Yumi a kiss on the cheek and go off to class.

"Odd, are you coming to the game tonight?" I whisper in math class.

"Me? Nah, not tonight. I've got some film stuff to finish up."

"Odd, come on! I always come to your skate shows."

"Usually," Odd corrects.

"Still though, I show up on a consistent basis."

"I'm not saying I won't show up to any of your games. I'm just saying I can't make this one."

"Whatever man," I say, resisting the urge to sulk. The morning goes by in a haze: I don't remember anything from class except for thinking about the game. At lunch I make sure to get extra portions from Rosa to keep full.

"You're taking seconds now? You always say the lunch food is gross," Odd remarks as I sit down.

"I need to be full since we have an early start time," I reply. "Besides, sauerkraut and sausage isn't that bad."

"I hope you do well and get that win. Good luck!" Aelita says, smiling.

"Are either of you coming to the game?" I ask Jeremy and Aelita.

"I've got some more analysis on XANA to do. I think I'm on the verge of a breakthrough," Jeremy says. "The data Aelita retrieved was pretty crucial in completing the gaps in Hopper's notes." I don't really react to that, as Jeremy still doesn't go out to any events that often.

"What about you, Aelita?"

"I'll try to make the second half if I can. I've got some recording to do for one of my music classes after school."

"Okay, sounds good," I say.

"What's up with you?" Yumi says to me. "You've never really cared if we come to your games."

"I've gotten better and the team's gotten better," I answer. "I want you all to appreciate my talents, I guess. I respect Odd's filmmaking and Aelita's music production. I'd say this isn't any different."

"We appreciate you even without your soccer skills," Yumi says reassuringly.

"I guess, but I still want my friends to come. Tonight just happens to be against our biggest rival as well."

"Not everyone cares about school rivalries," Yumi reminds me. I shrug, conceding that she has a point.

"-and that's how I think we can beat XANA. Granted, if he doesn't inhabit another supercomputer before I can develop the program," Jeremy says. I just now start truly hearing the other conversation at the table, and I start tuning in.

"Isn't that a little risky? XANA could easily absorb the modified Core energy after being repaired and become whole again," Aelita says.

"Wait, back up," I interrupt. "What's your grand plan to beat XANA?" Jeremy sighs.

"XANA's been damaged to the point that he can't use the Core to keep gaining energy," Jeremy explains. "But if I run a few programs that modify the Core so that it can repair XANA, we can lure him back to Lyoko. All of him has to be there to take advantage of the programs. While the program's running I'll launch an improved multi-agent system to destroy him. Our problem last time was that we didn't have a way to prevent some of him from escaping into the network, so he was able to regenerate."

"I agree with Aelita, that does sound a little risky," Yumi says. "And how exactly do you plan to make a program that can trap XANA in Lyoko?"

"That's the part I'm working on," Jeremy replies. "Redeveloping the multi-agent system is surprisingly easy. It'll just take a long time to reprogram everything and some more time to add some new modifications. The other two parts are finding a way to modify the Core energy and the trapping program, which will take a while."

"Looks like Einstein is back to his two hours a night sleep schedule," Odd jokes.

"In the meantime, let's hope XANA doesn't distract us too often," Aelita says. "Do you think there's any more data in the Core that could help you with modifying it?"

"I'm not sure. It wouldn't hurt to check, but it also takes a lot of time and energy to mount a mission to the Core," Jeremy says. "I don't want to overwork you guys." Jeremy's showing his considerate side again and it's nice that he's been developing it. The old Jeremy would have sent us on this mission immediately.

"I mean, we do have one other person to help us now," Yumi says, nodding in the direction of William. He's sitting with some girls who look like they're in his art class.

"Handsome? I guess he can swing his big sword and kill a couple of Krabs," Odd says, yawning.

"You saw how powerful he was when XANA controlled him," Jeremy says.

"But XANA makes everyone stronger. We don't know how good he is by himself," I argue. The bell rings and students start shuffling out of the cafeteria for afternoon classes. We say goodbye to each other and head off to class.

I get let out of my last class of the day and immediately go back to my dorm. I pack my gear for the evening and eat a granola bar, running through the agenda in my head. _Game starts at 5:15. Bus leaves at 4:15 and it's a five minute drive over to the soccer fields._ I had plenty of time. Walking to the fields took about 15 minutes but we always took a bus to carry equipment and gear.

"Well well, the star of the show's getting ready for his first act," Odd says as he walks into our room.

"You know it," I reply. "Unfortunately my star cheerleader's gonna be absent."

"I can't see Yumi in a frilly dress with pom-poms," Odd says, laughing. "But don't worry since Sissi will be there to do _so many_ tricks."

"That was too much shade at once," I chuckle. Everyone knew Sissi was the worst cheerleader on the team. "Well, I better get going."

"Good luck, score some goals or whatever," Odd says with a wave. I sling my gym bag over my shoulder and leave for the bus. I get on and claim a pair of seats for myself while Jim takes attendance. We arrive at the stadium and I glance over it. It's modest but nothing more. It wasn't in bad shape, it just wasn't very impressive. Short bleachers lined the field on one side and slightly taller bleachers along with the tunnels and locker room lined the other side of the field. The Central Prep bus was already there.

"Alright, Ulrich, let's send a message," James says as we change in the locker room. "Nobody messes with Kadic and gets away with it."

"James, I already said this is the first game," I say calmly. "Both our teams will change throughout the season." James is in my grade and he could be a little over the top occasionally. He used a ton of gel in his blonde hair and I heard rumors he smoked too. But on the field he was an important part of our offense and a great teammate. I slip on my #3 jersey and matching shorts. I'd always hated our mascot and team name, the Kadic Wizards, although I guess it didn't matter if we won our games.

"Okay, troops, here's our game plan," Jim announces. We're in a huddle in the locker room. "Hit them early and hit them hard. Stay aggressive on both sides of the ball. And above all, DO NOT LET THEIR FRESHMEN BEAT US! I remember when I blazed up the field as a freshman, embarrassing upperclassmen and let me tell you, you do not want to be on the other side of that."

"You were a star as a freshman?" one of our teammates asks.

"I'd rather not talk about it," Jim says in trademark fashion. We run out of the tunnel and start doing our warmups. I scan the bleachers for Yumi but she's nowhere to be found. Still 25 minutes till kickoff. I do some dribbling drills and hit some headers. One of the balls from Central Prep's team rolls onto our side of the field. A short, stocky kid comes over and picks the ball up. He looks up at me and sneers. I smile coolly at him and he frowns, walking back over to the other side of the field.

"Who was that?" Fran asks as he rolls a ball back to me.

"Probably one of their freshmen. He acts bigger than he is."

"They're all like that. That's how they got the 'Prep' in their name."

"Let's hope our freshmen can hold them down for a bit," I remark, and start kicking the ball towards him again. We finish drills and go back into the tunnel for introductions. I look around at the bleachers above the tunnel, where all the Kadic fans sit for home games. No sign of Yumi. I blow into my fists and jump up and down. One by one, my teammates get introduced after the Central Prep starters get introduced. Finally, it's my turn.

"And now, at center forward, the 5' 9'' junior…Ulrich Stern!" The PA announcer booms. I run out to booming cheers from the home fans and high five my teammates. I take my place in the line for the national anthem. After it plays I meet Central's captain for the coin toss. I eye their captain, a tall, tan, and built guy with spiky blue hair. We shake hands and I sneak a look at the bleachers again. I don't see Yumi anywhere. _Did she forget? She couldn't have,_ I think. _She told me she was coming. What is going on?_

"Uh, Stern?" the ref asks. I snap back to my senses. "Your call."

"Tails," I say. The ref flips the coin in the air and it lands heads.

"We'll go towards that goal," the Central Prep captain calls, pointing in the direction away from the street. He has a relatively mild voice. I nod and jog back to our side of the field.

Once the game starts I'm completely locked in. The first 15 minutes or so are a deadlock, as we don't make much progress against their tough defense and we do a good enough job to repel them as well. I get a couple touches but I'm swarmed by two or three defenders every time I touch the ball. It starts getting a little frustrating and physical. We avert a crisis when one of the forwards from Central gets an opening and runs toward our goal. His shot doesn't generate enough power and Fran is able to save it and roll it back to safety. Finally, in the 35th minute, we get our chance. James is able to penetrate deep into the Central defense and earns a corner. I position myself diagonal to the goal and wait for the kick. The kick comes and the ball sails towards the box. I outrun my defenders and corral the ball with my thigh, letting it drop on the ground. I quickly maneuver backwards to avoid the slide, and then aim for the top right corner with my left foot. The goalie jumps for it and his fingers graze it, but the ball's moving too fast. The ball buries itself in the net and drops down. Goal.

My teammates mob me and jump up and down.

"That's my boy!" James yells. I smile and push them off of me.

"Still work to do," I yell. "Stay focused." The Central Prep defenders scowl as I jog back to midfield. Only five more minutes left in the half. Central gets it into our defense but our defenders clear it back. I get the ball back and sense an opening. Only one defender close enough to bother me. As I dribble up I sense something weird. He seems to be focused on me rather than the ball. I try to get past him but he stops my every move. _That's weird, I don't remember you being so flexible,_ I think. He strips me of the ball and sneers. I try to get it back from him but he kicks the ball back to the goalie. He then launches a sudden kick at me. I get the wind knocked out of me and go flying further than I should have from a human kick. I hear the whistle blown but I know it's no use. I roll over and get up but he kicks me again and I land hard against the fence. The last thing I see is teammates and opponents alike trying to restrain him.

* * *

 _Ulrich is going to kill me,_ I think nervously. I tap my foot impatiently and stare at Mr. Chardin. He's flipping through texts and scripts and finally finds what he's looking for.

"Ah, here it is. Now, Miss Ishiyama, I want you to do a genuine reading of it this time and not an insolent mockery like you did in class."

"I wasn't even trying to mock it!" I protest. I just really thought reader's theater was a colossal waste of time. Why read when you can get straight to the acting after learning your lines? Not my fault that that showed in my tone.

"Unfortunately, I do not agree with you. So as punishment I will read the other half of the script and you will get through this entire play." I groan and flip through the script. There's three acts.

An hour and a half later we get through the torturous play, and he finally lets me go. I check the time. 5:10. _Shit, he's gonna kill me,_ I think. I sprint towards the gates to head to the soccer field. As I reach the gates I run into William.

"Hey," he greets. "What are you in such a hurry for?"

"No time to chat," I say impatiently. "Let me go through."

"Is it soccer?" he asks. I nod my head and clench my fists.

"I'll be seeing you now," I mutter. "And I swear if you don't let me through…"

"Okay, okay, calm down," he says, holding his hands up. "I might still try that on other girls, but never on you. You're taken and you'd beat me up even if you weren't."

"Thanks," I say sourly. I run past him and towards the soccer fields. It takes me seven minutes to get there running the entire way. 5:20. At least I wasn't that late. They'd probably at worst be a few minutes in at this point. I run to the ticket office and look for an open window.

"One student ticket please," I pant, flashing my ID.

"Sorry, young lady, we're all sold out," the vendor says.

"There have to be a few left," I insist. He shakes his head.

"Sorry, all out. Try buying tickets early next time." I walk away from the office and sigh. A guy wearing a dirty jacket and jeans spots me.

"Hey, sweetheart," he coos. "I can spot you tickets. It'll be 60 bucks a ticket."

"I'd rather kiss a frog," I reply. I sprint around the corner and spot a section of fence between the office and the bleachers. From the looks of it it's in front of Kadic's goal. I can't see the other goal but it'd have to do. I glance at the scoreboard and 20 minutes have passed. For the next 15 minutes there's not much going on until Kadic finally gets deep position at the 35th minute. I recognize the guy dribbling the ball as the one who called Ulrich over in the gym their first day of practice. He kicks from the corner opposite mine and I watch as Ulrich expertly brings the ball to his feet, avoids the defenders and scores.

"Yeah! Way to go!" I cheer. Ulrich gets surrounded by teammates and he celebrates before quickly pushing them off and directing them back to their places. He doesn't notice me by the fence and probably can't hear me either over the crowd. I smile as I see him giving full effort, running up and down the field, always being alert. The half is about to end and he gets the ball back. _Here we go. He can beat anyone 1 on 1,_ I think. He seems to struggle with this particular guy though, and he doesn't seem too friendly either. Ulrich loses the ball and I groan. The defender kicks it back to the goalie, and then nails Ulrich with a kick. Ulrich goes flying out of my sight.

"No!" I scream. The crowd roars and I can barely hear anything. I look at the defender and he's smirking as he advances towards Ulrich. I can't see his eyes from this distance but I know. "Fuck you, XANA," I mutter and start climbing the fence. The wire makes holes smaller than my feet can fit into but I still manage to scale it. Just as I drop over the defender kicks Ulrich again and he goes flying against the fence on the other side. I grit my teeth and run at him. He quickly gets mobbed by players and refs before I get there. For a moment I think it's going to be okay, and I start heading towards Ulrich. But then the defender starts emitting electricity and everyone is thrown off him. The crowd freaks out and starts streaming for the exits in masses. He turns to me and I glare at him. I charge towards him and he starts charging a bolt of electricity. I slide at the last second and trip him up, causing him to fire the bolt into the ground, charring the grass. He lunges at me and I grab his fist, twisting it and causing him to scream with a digital tone. I throw him to the ground and kick him. He lies there for a moment and I hurry over to Ulrich.

"Ulrich? Answer me!" I plead. I check his pulse and it's steady. He's unconscious but alive. I lift him up, straining under the weight, and rush into the tunnel. I lay him down on one of the benches and call Jeremy.

"Jeremy? It's me, Yumi. XANA's at it again," I say.

"I know, the Superscan just picked it up. Forest sector. What's the attack?"

"XANA's possessed one of the players from Central Prep. He attacked Ulrich in the middle of the match. Mostly everyone's run for it and he knocked out a good part of both teams."

"What about Ulrich? Is he alright?" Jeremy asks.

"He's unconscious right now. I put XANA out of commission temporarily but it won't last long. Get the others to the tower right now."

"We'll need as many bodies as we can," Jeremy says. "Is there any way you could get to the factory?"

"I'm not sure if we'll be able to make it. I'll stay with Ulrich and hide from XANA. Get William to go to Lyoko and protect Aelita!"

"Okay, I'll try. Good luck," Jeremy says, and hangs up. I look around and find more hallways and tunnels. Ulrich still hasn't woken up. I lift him up again and run down one of the other hallways, into what I assume is the entrance where multiple staircases lead to different parts of the stadium.

"Come on, Ulrich, wake up."

* * *

As soon as Yumi hangs up I dial Odd's number. Aelita's already in the Lab with me.

"Odd? Hello? Get to the factory immediately."

"XANA? Not at this time! I'm putting the finishing touches on my trailer!"

"Odd, you can work on it later. Yumi and Ulrich are in trouble and we need you to help deactivate this tower."

"Okay, Einstein, on my way." I hear a click and pull my phone down from my ear.

"We need William too, remember," Aelita reminds me gently.

"I know, I know," I say. I dial William's number and it rings a few times before he picks up.

"Hello? Jeremy?" he says on the other end.

"Hey, William," I say. "We need you on Lyoko. Get to the factory immediately. We'll debrief you guys later."

"All right! Thanks, Jeremy!" he says excitedly and hangs up. I rub my chin and scan the screen, making sure everything's working properly.

"Worried?" Aelita asks.

"What concerns me is that XANA doesn't seem to have a clear motive for these attacks," I wonder aloud. "Sure, they're distracting, but not _that_ distracting. XANA knows he won't get rid of us or cause major damage. He has to have a motive, otherwise he wouldn't be wasting needless energy when he could be searching for another supercomputer."

"Maybe XANA is a resilient type of personality," Aelita jokes.

"Highly unlikely," I reply. "Even though he has behavioral programs he's still a program, and functions with logic. He wouldn't try these petty attacks again since they keep failing, so there has to be some other reason."

"I think you're getting a little ahead of yourself," Aelita says. "Let's just focus on this tower for now. You can think about it later."

"Right," I say, nodding. The elevator door opens and Odd and William step into the Lab.

"Okay, Einstein, what's up with the tower?" Odd asks.

"Activated tower in the forest sector. XANA's taken control of some soccer player and he's attacking Yumi and Ulrich. Get there immediately."

"I can't wait. What other monsters does XANA create?" William asks.

"I don't feel like I need to remind you that this isn't a video game," Aelita says sternly, and William stiffens up and follows them to the scanner room.

"Transfer, Aelita. Transfer, Odd. Transfer, William. Scanner, Aelita. Scanner, Odd. Scanner, William. Virtualization." I tap the key and watch as three green arrows appear on my screen. "Okay, the activated tower is 48 degrees west and 83 degrees south. I'll call up your vehicles. William, I'll get you the Overbike."

"No need," William says. "I still have a parting gift from XANA. Super Smoke!" He vanishes and starts moving quickly. Aelita hops on the Overboard with Odd and they go off with him. I hear beeps and see four red arrows moving rapidly towards them.

"Watch out, guys!" I warn. "Four Hornets hot on your tails."

"Whoa, those things are fast," William comments, stopping to take a look. "But I don't think I can do anything from here."

"That's why you leave it to the pros, handsome!" Odd calls. "Get back to your smoky routine and let me handle this." William vanishes again and Odd circles back to attack the Hornets. I press the key for the visual and a screen pops up showing things from Aelita's perspective. They zoom past the pack of Hornets and Odd reaches behind to fire Laser Arrows. He hits one of them and the other three circle back.

"Shield!" Odd yells. His purple hand shield blocks the Hornet's fire as they whiz past each other. Odd circles back again and charges towards a Hornet.

"Odd, are you insane?!" I shout. The other Hornet starts firing lasers at them. Odd does flips and rolls to avoid the laser fire, and extends a claw to destroy the Hornet he was zooming at.

"Relax, Jeremy, I'm the insane one of the group, remember?" Odd giggles.

"Odd, that was completely unnecessary," I scold.

"Jeremy's right, you know," Aelita says. "You could've just killed it with a well-aimed laser arrow."

"I don't wanna drop my shot accuracy in the Lyoko statistics," Odd replies. "Ulrich will know who the best Lyoko Warrior is. Stats don't lie!"

"Odd, focus," I say. The last Hornet fires rapidly and Odd takes a laser to the chest. "Odd, 70 life points left! Stop goofing around!"

"Hey! That last one was all him!" Odd protests. He fires a barrage of Laser Arrows and the Hornet is destroyed.

"What happened to accuracy, Odd?" Aelita teases.

"Had to show that Hornet a piece of my mind," Odd says. "Let's go." They speed off towards the Tower.

"Jeremy, we've got a problem here," William says nervously.

"Huh?" I say, confused. "What's going on?"

"I got here and got rid of two of these cube like thingys. But now there's some weird shadow Ulrich here." I freeze and gulp. Ulrich's our best warrior, and if XANA had made the clones each more powerful than the last…

"William! Do everything you can to hold him off!" I order. "Odd, Aelita, XANA's launched his shadow Ulrich. You'll have to do the best you can against him."

"Are you serious? It just gets better and better," Odd groans.

"Ulrich's just not a good matchup for you," Aelita remarks. "How do you plan on stopping a clone of him?"

"Odd the Magnificent never says never!" Odd declares. They get to the tower and hop off the Overboard. William's locked in a fierce swordfight with the Ulrich clone. Sparks fly and the sound of metal clanging booms around the tower.

"Stop moving around so much!" William yells. The Super Smoke chases the Super Sprinting Ulrich around the tower. William catches up to him and goes in for a heavy swing but the Ulrich clone expertly dodges it and his sword crashes into the ground.

"Triplicate," the clone grunts. Two more XANA Ulrichs appear next to him. Odd fires Laser Arrows and Aelita throws some Energy Fields but they all Super Sprint out of the way. One of them appears behind William and he swings his sword, but the Ulrich blocks it with a single sword and stabs William with the other one, devirtualizing him. Aelita activates her wings and flies above the battleground, surveying the three Ulrichs.

"Man, that is so not cool," Odd mutters.

"Attack!" One of the Ulrichs shouts. The other two start advancing towards Odd.

"Stupid XANA, now we know which one the real one is," I mock. William comes up to the Lab and stands next to my chair.

"You didn't tell me we were gonna be fighting XANA everyone," William says.

"Be prepared for anything," I reply. "It's in the job description." I watch as one of the clones jumps on Odd and he extends his claws. They get into an intense fight and I see the second clone sneaking up. "Odd, watch out!" I shout. Then I see a pink ball slam into the second clone and he disappears.

"Don't worry, Jeremy, we've got it under control," Aelita says. She flies towards the real one while Odd continues to fight the clone. The real Ulrich clone gets distracted by Aelita's attack and momentarily loses control of the clone, allowing Odd to knock his swords off and destroy him with his claws.

"Yeah Odd! Now take care of the original one!" William encourages. The Ulrich clone snarls and darts past Aelita, heading for Odd. Odd fires Laser Arrows rapidly but he deflects all of them and slices Odd across his body.

"No!" I shout. William slams his fist down and I run my hands through my hair frantically. "Aelita, it's up to you now." The clone pulls out both swords and walks towards Aelita. Aelita lights Energy Fields in both hands and descends. They circle each other, waiting for the first move.

* * *

I hear a crash of metal; it sounds like someone busted through the entrance of the stadium. I carry Ulrich away as fast as I can but his body is too heavy and I start to tire.

"Come on, Ulrich, wake up," I say to him in a low voice. I tire out and hide behind a nearby building. I see the player burst out of the stadium and start walking on the street, inspecting the area. Ulrich begins to move in my arms and he opens an eye.

"Oh, my head hurts," he groans.

"Quiet," I hiss.

"Wh-what's going on?" he whispers. "XANA Central Prep guy. That's the last thing I remember."

"He scared most of the people into fleeing and knocked out a lot of the players," I whisper back. "The police should be here soon but they won't be of much use. He's looking for us right now."

"Let me at him," Ulrich growls and gets up. He quickly leans against the wall of the building from dizziness.

"No way, you're in no shape to be fighting," I say. "Go find somewhere to hide. I'll try to hold him off."

"You'll be in worse shape than me soon if you take him on," Ulrich argues. "Besides, I'm not that hurt. Just a little shaken up from, you know, being knocked against a fence and hitting the ground hard."

"Let's find a place to hide," I concede. I look around the corner and I see the player. I quickly duck my head back around but I think he's spotted me. "Shit," I mutter under my breath. Ulrich sees my reaction and understands. I slowly creep towards the corner, waiting, waiting…

I spin around and kick. My foot connects with the player's mug and he gets knocked backwards. He quickly hops back up and punches me in the stomach, sending me to the ground.

"Yumi!" Ulrich yells. He jumps in front of the XANA-possessed player and me. The player goes for a leg sweep and he jumps out of the way, kicking the player as he does. The player snarls and throws a bolt at Ulrich, who spins out of the way just in time. The player starts advancing towards Ulrich, who's on the ground too because of his spin. I get up and tackle him, taking him out of Ulrich's way.

"Come on, let's run," Ulrich says, pulling my hand. We run into the building and the player shoots bolts at us. Thankfully the building is built of brick and it absorbs the electricity. The player starts chasing us into the building. It seems to be an office type of building but it's mostly empty, probably because office hours are over. We find the back door and sprint up the stairs. Suddenly the lights turn off.

"What's happening now?" I ask.

"He's probably hacked the power supply. He has the advantage in darkness. Let's get to the roof."

"You have vertigo, are you sure you want to go there?"

"As long as I don't look down I'll be fine." We keep climbing the stairs until we reach the top floor. We're both panting and out of breath. The elevator opens and the Central Prep player walks through, grinning evilly. His XANAfied eyes glow in the semi-darkness. Ulrich heaves a chair at him and he destroys it with a bolt. I find the closet that leads to the rooftop.

"Ulrich, in here!" I call. Ulrich keeps throwing office tables and chairs at the player to slow him down. He finally joins me and we run up the stairs. The player follows us and we're stuck on the rooftop now. He charges lightning at his fingertips and I rush towards him.

"Yumi, no!" Ulrich calls. I'm almost there. If I can get in a little closer I can knock him out before he can fire. He suddenly pushes his hand towards me and I get shocked by a bolt. I'm raised in the air as he continues shocking me. It's a constant sting and I'm in agony. The electricity stops and I fall to the ground. As I do I see Ulrich on top of the player, wrestling for control. The player throws Ulrich off and he lands precariously close to the edge. I get up and charge again but he fires a quick bolt and I land next to Ulrich, stunned physically and mentally. _Now would be a good time to deactivate the tower, Jeremy,_ I think as he approaches us.

* * *

Aelita's shield won't hold much longer. Even though I've upgraded it the shield still can't take repeated abuse from powerful weapons like the sabers. Aelita releases her shield and rolls back, narrowly evading a strike from the clone's sword. She throws some Energy Fields but the clone easily deflects them. She activates her wings again and flies away. The clone tries to jump up but he can't reach her. He turns towards the tower and starts sprinting towards it.

"Jeremy, any ideas how to beat him?" Odd asks as we watch the screen.

"I haven't the slightest clue," I reply. "I'm not the fighter." The Ulrich clone Super Sprints up the tower and leaps towards Aelita, grabbing her foot. Aelita begins to fall down with the added weight.

"If you wanna go down so badly, then let's do it," Aelita grunts. She deactivates her wings and they both dive towards the ground. The XANA Ulrich gets up quickly and pulls out both his swords again.

Aelita forms a small shield with her two Energy Fields, and blocks the sword swings. She can defend well against the clone, but she can't do anything back. She starts to tire and the clone senses blood, swinging harder and faster. Aelita retreats and the clone sneers, closing in.

"Come on, Aelita," I say desperately. "There's gotta be something you can do."

"Triangulate," the clone says evilly. He runs in the familiar triangle, confusing the already exhausted Aelita.

"Come on, can't she see him running around?" William asks.

"No," I respond. "The one being triangulated can't tell where Ulrich is. Once the clone stops running and creates two more clones to stand at each point, we can tell where the three clones are, but Aelita still won't be able to. That's why it's so useful against powerful opponents." William shakes his head and continues watching. I hear a sound from Aelita, that sounds a little bit like a "humph" of triumph. _But it can't be,_ I think. _She's surrounded and as soon as the clone is finished he'll go for the kill. What could she have up her sleeve?_

My question is answered a moment later. I hear the familiar song of her Creativity, and I watch as a gap begins to appear under where the Ulrich clone is running. It's a large, triangle shaped gap.

"Doesn't the clone know to run before the ground under him disappears?" Odd asks.

"The clone can't cancel the Triangulate at this point," I reply. We watch tensely as the clone slips and falls into the pit. Aelita glances over it and the clone has stuck one of his swords into the ground, preventing his fall into the Digital Sea.

"Energy Field!" Aelita shouts, throwing one at the clone. It hits and the clone disappears into shadow.

"Great job, Aelita!" I say excitedly.

"Way to go!" William adds. "You really do have a ton of quirks you can pull out."

"Good thinking, Princess!" Odd says, jumping up and down.

"Deactivate the tower," I say, getting back to business. "Yumi and Ulrich could be in trouble."

"Roger, Jeremy," Aelita says, hopping over the pit she created. She enters the tower and inputs the code, changing the color from red to white.

"Return to the Past, now," I say, pressing the key. We're engulfed in white light and I close my eyes on another successful mission.

* * *

Just as the player is about to kill us, he stops and collapses. A moment later the white light comes and when I open my eyes I'm back at the lunch table from today.

"So, how was it out there?" Jeremy asks.

"We almost died, as usual," Yumi replies. "XANA's possession seemed to get stronger the longer he possessed that kid."

"Luckily Princess was able to defeat the Ulrich clone in time," Odd says, smiling at her. Aelita blushes.

"Wait, there was a clone of me?" I ask. Everyone except Yumi solemnly nods their heads. "Ugh. I hate fighting myself."

"It's something we'll all have to get used to," Yumi says. William comes over this time and greets us.

"Did I do a good job?" he asks tentatively.

"Well, you killed two Bloks," Jeremy says. "And I know you can handle Creepers. So yeah, I'd say you did okay." He smiles at that.

"Bloks? Big deal. I can't count the number of Bloks I've killed," Odd says, yawning.

"Odd," Aelita says disapprovingly. Odd shrugs and goes back to stuffing his face with food. William talks to Jeremy some more about Lyoko and then leaves.

"So, ready to repeat your goal?" Yumi asks me.

"Sure thing. Ready to not be late this time?" I say sarcastically.

"Sorry," she says, embarrassed. "I got into a little spat with Chardin and he made me stay late after school. It won't happen again."

"Good, I'm glad to hear that," I say. That afternoon at the game when I'm going through my warmups again I see Yumi in the front row, 25 minutes early. She waves at me and I give a thumbs up, smiling. During the game I try to emulate exactly what happened the first time, and this time the half ends without a hitch. I can't help but shudder though when I attempt to beat the defender again. Turns out he's pretty good even when not possessed by XANA. In the second half they tie it up midway through on a beautiful cross into a header. Even I have to admit it was impressive. In the 75th minute I take a pass and spot an opening with only a single defender to beat. I easily get past him but I'm greeted by a wall of defenders. I kick a cross to James, who's flanking me on the side. He corrals the ball and kicks it low into the left corner, just past the goalie's outstretched arms.

"That's my boy!" I shout, jumping on top of James. We form a giant mob and spend about thirty seconds celebrating, an eternity in soccer. The game ends without any more advances from either team. We line up and shake hands, and then I run off to celebrate with the team. A couple of the guys have taken their shirts off and everyone's cheering. After the mini-celebration we run back into the locker room to change.

"Great win tonight, troops," Jim addresses. "We got off on the right foot. Let's keep it coming in four days for our second game. We are Wizards!" The locker room erupts in more cheers and I smile. I quickly get changed and get outside. Most of the fans have left and I see more people driving and walking home. Yumi's waiting for me by the fence.

"Impressive first game, hotshot," she says, smiling.

"I'm glad you were there for all of it," I reply, feeling bubbly. "Here, these are for you." I hand her my captain's armbands.

"Don't you need those for the rest of your season?" she asks, confused.

"It's okay. I get new ones for every game. It's something to remember me by."

"Remember you? I'll have so much trouble with that," she says, voice dripping with sarcasm.

"You never know," I chuckle. "Just keep them next to the other special things in your room."

"Fat chance. I'll store them somewhere secret so Hiroki won't find them."

"I mean, I wouldn't know since I've never been in your room," I say, winking. She rolls her eyes at me and puts the armbands away.

"You're thirsty, I'm thirsty, we're all thirsty," she concludes. "Hopefully it doesn't boil over one day."

"You are?" I ask, slightly shocked. Her face turns red and she looks away.

"Uh, maybe just a little. Don't worry about it," she says. I laugh and give her a kiss on the lips. She wraps her arm around me and we walk back to Kadic together, with the setting sun behind us.


	18. Chapter 18: Birthday Drama

**Alternating Aelita and Odd POV. Just a bit long, lol. Enjoy and Review!**

* * *

The winter is ending at last and life begins to bloom again. I spend the days looking for new books in the library and studying with Jeremy. The gang's gotten back to the tight-knit bond we had a few years ago, and we hang out in the cafeteria, at the benches, and in the rec room every spare moment. XANA attacks are still common, maybe once or twice a week, and we abuse the Return to the Past a little more than I'm comfortable with so we can all get caught up with our regular lives.

It's a quiet Thursday as I wake up to the light flooding my room. I yawn and stretch. _Ulrich's birthday is tomorrow,_ I think. _I can't wait to see what Yumi got him._ I shower, get dressed and head down to breakfast, grabbing a few croissants from Rosa. For once I'm the last one to get there, as Yumi is already sitting down next to Odd. I think it's a little strange she's not sitting by Ulrich but I set my tray down next to hers.

"Morning everyone," I say cheerily.

"Princess, did you sleep in?" Odd asks between bites. "You're never this late to breakfast."

"I've still got plenty of time, Odd," I reply. "Not everyone takes as long to eat as you do."

"Ulrich, are you excited for tomorrow?" Jeremy asks.

"Eh, whatever," he says. "You guys don't have to make a big deal out of it. I'd rather you didn't."

"Come on, Ulrich, we gotta have some fun," Odd exclaims.

"Wait, sorry for asking, but what's tomorrow?" Yumi asks, bewildered. Ulrich shoots her an icy glare and I shift uneasily in my chair.

"Uh, it's Ulrich's birthday tomorrow," Jeremy reminds her. "I hope you didn't forget or something."

"Wha-Oh, yeah, of course!" Yumi laughs nervously. "I knew it was coming up. I just forgot about it for a moment." Ulrich mutters something under his breath and no one else hears, but I pick it up as "more like totally forgot". Odd, always the jester, breaks the awkwardness in the air.

"How about we go see a scary movie tomorrow?" he suggests. "Or go play mini golf."

"Neither. I'm staying in my room tomorrow night," Ulrich replies, and I can tell he's beginning to sulk. Even I have to admit it's a bit ridiculous. _He's Year 11 and still hasn't gotten over these little things. Hopefully it blows over soon._ The bell rings and we get up to dump our trays, and I'm behind everyone except Yumi. As I walk out she grabs my arm.

"Aelita, can we talk for a bit?" she asks. I nod and we walk over to under a tree.

"Is this about you forgetting?" I start and she nods.

"I totally forgot," she says, running her hands through her hair. "I think I still have time to get him a gift, but he'll be mad at me for days."

"He's an introvert. It's not natural for him to trumpet his praises. He expects others will remember to care about him," I explain.

"I don't know how he'll react now," Yumi sighs. "He knows me too well. He knows I forgot. But at the same time he should consider how busy I am with life. College, training, figuring out a career."

"He'll realize that soon," I say reassuringly. "Just try to be gentle with him. Maybe you could pull him aside and apologize."

"He might just react like I did," she groans. "You remember that time it was the other way around. I regret treating him like that. Guess my streak of never forgetting his birthday is over."

"I remember it like it was yesterday. At least this happened right now and not tomorrow," I say. "Get him a nice gift and try to reconcile."

"Thanks for hearing me out, Aelita," she says, smiling. "I should probably get to class."

"Ciao, Yumi. Good luck," I say and pull on my backpack. I walk to the science building for biology and I think about their relationship on the way there. Yumi and Ulrich had started to experience a little more friction lately. Even though it was as small as the fights Jeremy and I had, I couldn't shake the feeling of nervousness. I was usually angry at Jeremy for not spending time together and he was angry at me for not taking certain things seriously. Yumi and Ulrich got mad over Odd going with them to town. _It is her last year though,_ I remind myself. It was easy to forget, but the good times were coming to an end faster than ever. In three months the Lyoko Warriors would be missing a member. That strain would be added to the mix of their already volatile personalities. _I wish they could work something out for next year and beyond._

After school I go to the music building of Kadic, filled with various classrooms and practice rooms. I walk into the room with the sound and DJ equipment and set my things down. Kadic had always had this room but most of the equipment had gone out of use before Jeremy and I were able to convince Mr. Delmas to spend on new equipment. The Subdigitals helped out with that too. Most of the time I was still the only one to use it, although occasionally some younger students experimented with it. I pull out my pink Beats Yumi got me for Christmas and start working on my mix. I've been perfecting it for Ulrich's birthday as a gift. It's a combination of power metal, rap, a hint of reggae and a bit of T-Swift. Of course, I'm not supposed to tell anyone that Ulrich occasionally listens to pop to relax. Tips from Yumi really do come in handy. I finish the mix after half an hour and glance over my other works. So many of them are in progress. The Subdigitals are on their world tour and won't get back to me anytime soon on any offers. Most of the mixes are just for fun now. I've never really wanted to do music as my full time career anyway, but it is nice to have the connections and resources to launch it as a side hobby.

I burn the mix onto a CD and shut off the equipment. I smile to myself and put it away in my bag. As I walk out of the music building my phone rings and it's Jeremy.

"Hello? What's the matter?" I ask.

"Superscan. Activated tower. Factory. You know the drill," he says, and hangs up. I sigh and glance at the CD.

"I just hope the attack isn't too major that I have to redo all this work," I say to myself.

* * *

As I walk to our dorm I hear Kiwi's barks. I open the door and Ulrich's laying down, scowling at Kiwi.

"Odd, tell your mutt to shut up," he grumbles.

"Don't call him a mutt!" I scold. I pat Kiwi's head. "Aw, poor boy, you probably just need something to chew on, don't you?" I take a rubber bone out of my bag and hand it to him, and he pounces on it and doesn't let the bone go.

"Thank God," Ulrich mutters.

"Hey, cheer up, will ya? Tomorrow's your birthday!"

"Exactly," he replies. I'm confused for a moment but then I get it.

"Are you still hung up about this morning? Let it go!" I say, bouncing onto my own bed.

"What a hypocrite. And she said she would never forget my birthday."

"She's busy with her life, you have to make exceptions once or twice," I suggest.

"Yeah, well so am I," he snorts. "Guess I have the right to be mad for weeks too."

"There you go again with your eye for an eye talk," I say. "Better knock it off before you turn it into something bigger than it should be."

"Leave me alone," he says, going back to his familiar phrase. I shrug.

"Just trying to look out for you. Maybe give you a few pointers."

"Pointers? You?" he says skeptically.

"You just can't stop repeating yourself, can you?" I say. "Don't remind me more about Episode 42."

"What?" Ulrich asks, confused. I smile cheesily.

"Nothing. Don't worry about it." Kiwi drops the bone and sits on the floor, content. Ulrich's phone rings and he looks at the screen.

"Great, just what we needed, Jeremy," he says.

"What's wrong with Jeremy?"

"Nothing, it's the message he's probably carrying, stupid," Ulrich says and picks up. "Okay, we'll be there." He looks at me.

"XANA attack?"

"Yeah. Let's go. Hopefully I can beat up some Krabs. That'll put me in a better mood."

We rush to the factory, skating through the sewers and arriving at the Lab. Everyone's gathered at the computer screen.

"Have you two seen anything strange yet?" Jeremy asks. We both shake our heads. I see Yumi glance at Ulrich and him turn away from her.

"XANA must be doing something on Lyoko that he needs the tower for," Aelita deduces. "But what?"

"I think I have the answer," Jeremy says, typing furiously. He brings up a visual of the Core of Lyoko. "XANA is attempting to hack the Core and steal information about Lyoko."

"What does he need that for? Doesn't he know everything about it?" I wonder.

"Maybe. Whatever it is, it's not good. We'll need to split up to deactivate the tower and clear the way at the Core."

"Wouldn't it just help to all go deactivate the tower?" Yumi asks. "The data will be saved either way."

"The data might be lost by then," Jeremy replies. "If some of you go to the Core it at least keeps XANA's hands full and slows the process. Who wants to suggest teams?"

"I'm good with anyone," Aelita says.

"Same here," I add. We look at Yumi and Ulrich. Ulrich keeps a stone cold face on and doesn't say anything. Yumi looks uncomfortable next to him.

"We haven't got all day, you two," Jeremy reminds them. "Hurry up."

"I'll go with Odd," Yumi pipes up.

"That's the spirit!" I say, raising my hand for a high-five, but she leaves me hanging.

"Okay, I'll virtualize you two into Sector 5. Aelita and Ulrich will go deactivate the tower. It's in the ice sector. Get to the scanners immediately."

We get down and Aelita and Ulrich are virtualized first. After that, Yumi and I step into the scanners. We land on the Eye of XANA at the start of Carthage. I look around and see a thin opening on the right side of the room.

"Three minutes to trip that switch," Jeremy says. "Make it snappy. Aelita and Ulrich, the tower should be due 40 degrees northeast."

"I wonder what convoluted puzzle Sector 5 has for us this time," I wonder aloud.

"Let's not stick around," Yumi says. We sprint down the corridor and find ourselves in a large room with pits on both the floor and ceiling.

"Jeremy, why are there holes in the ceiling? And where do they lead to?" I call.

"No idea," he replies. "Be careful. Two minutes left."

"The switch is on the other side," Yumi says, pointing. The thing juts out at the end of the room.

"I'll go first," I say, and start running. I reach the first pit and it's too far to jump. "Jeremy! What do I do now?"

"Odd, watch out!" Yumi shouts. I narrowly dodge a laser blast and spot Creepers on the other side. I do a flip and I suddenly feel myself being pulled towards the ceiling.

"Hey! What's going on?!" I shout.

"It looks like you can control your gravity in this room," Jeremy says incredulously. "That's how you get past the huge pits."

"It's like Gravity Guy! Cool!" I'm interrupted by Creepers on the ceiling as well.

"Be careful, Odd," Yumi warns. I look up-wait no, down-and see Yumi running towards the pit. She throws her fans and hits both of them.

"My turn," I grunt, and shoot Laser Arrows at the two Creepers on the ceiling. They're quickly killed as well.

"Hurry!" Jeremy urges. "One minute left!" Yumi flips onto the ceiling with me and we run until we reach the next pit. I look at the floor and it's a series of pits that have a piece of the ceiling above them.

"Great, this is gonna make me dizzy," I mutter. We jump and flip gravity and I barely land safely on the small piece of floor.

"More Creepers behind us! I'll deal with them, you get the switch," Yumi says. She turns around and deflects the lasers with her fans. I switch gravity over and over and I start to get woozy.

"Hurry, Odd, 10 seconds left!" Jeremy says, panicking.

"Relax, Einstein, I got this," I say, and reach the last platform. I slap the switch and then lay down, still dizzy. I see Yumi coming and she lands next to me. There's a lone Creeper but it's too far away to fire accurately.

"Odd, stop napping and get up," Yumi says, pulling me up.

"I wasn't! Are you telling me you don't get dizzy?"

"Well, the transporter doesn't make me dizzy either, so it must be you," she responds. We reach the edge of the Sector and jump on the elevator.

Yumi looks down as we ride the elevator. She opens and closes her fan over and over.

"Something on your mind?" I ask innocently. She glares at me.

"Don't play dumb," she says. "You know what it is."

"He's a stubborn guy," I comment. "He just won't let it go. I don't see the big deal."

"You wouldn't understand," she sighs. "I know you're his best friend but sometimes he's just that way and you can't change him."

"Oh, I understand exactly," I say. "Sometimes he'll just be like a rock for hours on end and not tell me at all why he's doing it." The elevator arrives at the floor and we get off.

"The hub should be at the other side. I don't detect any monsters but be careful nonetheless," Jeremy says. We run through a series of hallways and arrive at the spot where Aelita usually collects information. I see myself hacking into the system. No, really, I actually do. The XANA Odd is back and hacking into the system, and the Ulrich and Yumi counterparts stand guard. I quickly duck my head back around the corner.

"What do we do now?" I hiss. "We can't take all three of them. We'll get slaughtered. Jeremy, why didn't you warn us?"

"They didn't show up on the radar," Jeremy replies. "They must have some type of cloaking ability."

"Odd, you're the one who says never say never," Yumi replies. "On my count. One, two, three!" I jump out from behind the wall and they turn around, except for the Odd.

"Laser Arrows!" I shout, firing a stream of them. The Ulrich and Yumi clones deflect them all. The Yumi clone puts her fingers to her temples and I start levitating. "Hey! Put me down!"

"Let's dance," Yumi taunts, and raises a hand towards me. I feel the grip on me beginning to loosen, and I fall to the ground. The Yumi clone kneels to the ground and clutches her head in pain. Yumi smirks but has barely any time before the Ulrich clone charges at her. She quickly whips her fans out and they start battling.

"Alright, let's take care of you," I say. The Yumi clone throws both her fans. "Shield!" I yell, my trusty purple disk deflecting both the fans. I see her trying to use telekinesis again and I see the fans come back towards me. I jump in the air and flip to avoid them. I glance over at Yumi and she's grabbed one of the Ulrich's katanas with her kusarigama.

"Guys, get the Odd clone!" Jeremy shouts. "He's almost done accessing the data!"

"Easy for you to say!" Yumi snaps. Her kusarigama disappears and she fights the Ulrich with his own katana. I shoot more Laser Arrows at the Yumi clone and she blocks them with her fans.

"We're not getting anywhere," I moan.

"Odd, on three, teleport right in front of me with your claws," Yumi orders.

"Uh, okay, if you say so," I agree. I extend my claws and block the XANA Yumi's fans once more.

"Now!" Yumi shouts. She's locked swords with the Ulrich clone and suddenly flips backwards and throws it at me.

"What the-Teleportation!" I yell. I appear in front of Yumi and yelp as the Ulrich clone swings his sword down and I block it just in time. I glance over and see the Yumi clone vanishing and the katana stuck in the ground.

"I'll take care of the Odd clone now," Yumi shouts, pulling the sword out and charging.

"Triplicate," the Ulrich clone hisses, and bats me away as two more of them appear. I suddenly hear a shriek and look up to see three Mantas approaching as well.

"This is just fantastic," I mumble. "Teleportation!" I teleport behind one of the Ulrichs and quickly slice with my claws. It fades immediately and there are two still there. Suddenly, lasers hit around me and I jump back to avoid the fire from the Mantas. Two of them swoop up the Ulrichs and circle around Yumi and the Odd clone, firing at Yumi. She deflects the Odd's laser arrows with one fan and the Manta fire with the sword.

"Odd, do something!" Jeremy says, panic in his voice. "Yumi can't handle fire from both ends."

"Already on it, Einstein," I reply. "Can you call up the Overboard?"

"Will do," Jeremy says, and a few seconds later the board appears at my feet. I hop on and chase after the other Manta. I get right next to it and jump off the Overboard and onto it.

"What a waste of an Overboard," Jeremy grumbles. "And what exactly do you plan to do?"

"Trying something out," I reply. I dig my claw into the Eye of XANA and it buckles, but I find the control of it a lot easier than just using my regular claws.

"Careful, Odd. The Manta might devirtualize if you dig in too hard."

"I've got everything under control, Einstein," I say. I fly back towards where Yumi is and come in close on the Mantas with the two Ulrichs on them.

"Fire!" I order, and the Manta charges up lasers and starts shooting at the Ulrichs. One of them gets reduced to shadow and I see the real one snarling at me. He chases after me with the Manta and the other now-empty Manta comes as well.

"Fire!" the Ulrich clone shouts and both Mantas start firing at me. I fly upwards as far as I can, and then dive rapidly down towards the Manta with the Ulrich on it. I swoop and knock the Ulrich off the Manta, sending him into the void below.

"Yeah!" I yell, celebrating. The other two Mantas, now riderless, lay flat and start charging a beam. "Oh no, not this again," I mutter. I fly towards where the Odd clone and Yumi are still battling. "Yumi, jump out of the way!" I warn. The Mantas fire the red beam and I dive down and Yumi flips and avoids the beam, which goes right in between her and the Odd clone.

"Laser Arrows!" the Odd clone shouts, and starts firing at me. I tense up and try to maneuver with the Manta but it's too slow to avoid the barrage of arrows. I dig my claws deeper into the Manta's Eye and suddenly it explodes.

"Aaahhh!" I scream as I fall.

"Odd, no!" Yumi shouts. She throws a fan and it cuts cleanly through me right before I fall into the Celestial Dome.

* * *

We speed through the ice sector on Ulrich's Overbike.

"Okay, you two, the activated tower should be at the top of that glacier," Jeremy says.

"I wonder what welcoming committee XANA has in store of us," I muse.

"Just give me something to kill," Ulrich grumbles.

"Try to focus on the task at hand," I plead.

"I am focused. I'm gonna kill all the monsters XANA sends."

"You really shouldn't let your anger get to you," I say. "I know you're disappointed but you should forgive her. We're all human."

"What a hypocrite," he complains. "She forgets my birthday and expects forgiveness. Did she forget what happened a few years back?"

"She doesn't expect forgiveness," I correct. "She feels bad about the fact she forgot and wants to make up."

"Yeah, whatever." I sigh at Ulrich. I don't know how Yumi ever puts up with him when he's like this.

"Radar's picked up a lot of activity around the tower," Jeremy says. "Whatever XANA needs from Carthage it must be important. Be careful." Ulrich lifts the Overbike off the ground and we fly up to the top. The tower is in the middle of a giant, circular platform of ice.

"Well, this is quite the welcoming committee," I remark. There's a swarm of Hornets around the tower, along with Bloks, Megatanks and Tarantulas.

"Let me handle them," Ulrich grunts.

"Ulrich, this is suicide," I warn.

"I'm just trying to get my Lyoko statistics up," Ulrich says. The Tarantulas and Bloks open fire and I shield while Ulrich blocks with both of his swords. The Hornets start flying towards us while we're defending. Ulrich throws some shurikens and downs a few of them but there's still more flying too fast.

"Ulrich! Watch out!" I shout. "Energy Field!" I throw an Energy Field and it manages to hit one of the Hornets. Two left.

"Take that!" Ulrich yells. I'm confused but then I see explosions near the Bloks and some of them are destroyed. The two remaining Hornets zoom towards me and I shield. A shuriken flashes in front of my shield and slices through both of them.

"Well done, Ulrich," Jeremy compliments.

"Aelita, buy us some time with your Creativity," Ulrich orders.

"What do you want me to do?" I ask. The Megatanks start firing and we jump out of the way to avoid the tall lasers.

"Separate the Megatanks and the rest of the monsters!" Ulrich shouts. "They're the biggest threats." There's three Megatanks and they're situated behind the wall of Bloks and Tarantulas. I summon a clear ice wall across the glacier to separate them. The Megatanks start blasting it immediately. Ulrich Super Sprints towards the Bloks. "Triplicate!" he yells. His clones become a blur of yellow and silver, cutting down the Bloks expertly and quickly.

"Energy Field!" I hurl two towards the Tarantulas. I manage to land one of them and the Tarantula explodes. The others start advancing towards me. I activate my wings and fly away, dodging laser fire all the while. I hurl more Energy Fields and hit one more Tarantula. The Ulrich clones finish up with the Bloks and all sprint over to the Tarantulas, cutting them down. The real one jumps on the final one and stabs a sword in.

"Impact!" Ulrich yells, and jumps off as the Tarantula explodes. The Megatanks shatter through the ice wall just then and start rolling over to us. "I'm gonna get them," Ulrich says determinedly. "Stay here."

"Ulrich, it's too risky! There's three of them!" I say nervously. He and his clones run towards the three Megatanks. One of them stops and starts charging a laser. It hits one of the clones but not before the other two are able to get there and destroy it after the blast.

"See? No problem, Princess!" Ulrich says. The other two Megatanks turn towards the two Ulrichs in the middle. They stand back to back. Suddenly, they start rolling towards them instead of firing. The real Ulrich jumps and the clone gets crushed between them. Ulrich lands on top of one of the Megatanks, but it's already charging a laser. It fires right as Ulrich stabs his sword and they're both devirtualized. The other one turns towards me and starts rolling. I fly around, dodging the laser blasts.

"Aelita, it's up to you now," Jeremy says. I fly away from the tower and the Megatank follows me. I hide in an ice cave, pondering my next move.

* * *

I walk up to the Lab and Jeremy's staring at his computer intensely.

"Sorry that I couldn't seal the deal, Einstein," I apologize.

"It's okay, Odd. You did the best you could. Now let's hope Yumi can hang in there against these two Mantas and your clone." Jeremy taps a few keys and brings up the visual. It's from Yumi's perspective and she's fighting the Odd clone with her fans. Amazingly, she still has the Ulrich clone's sword.

"Fire!" the Odd clone shouts, and the two Mantas descend on Yumi while he turns back to the interface.

"XANA really needs to work on those personalities. I never would've been this boring if I had control of all the Mantas."

"Not the time for jokes, Odd," Jeremy replies. The Mantas fire at Yumi and she deflects the blasts with her fans. She then materializes her kusarigama again and throws it at one of the Mantas. The sickle digs into the Eye of XANA, destroying one of them. Just then, Ulrich comes out of the elevator and stands next to us.

"I fucking hate Megatanks," he grumbles.

"You destroyed five Hornets, six Bloks, four Tarantulas and two Megatanks and all you can think about is how you got devirtualized by one of the Megatanks?" Jeremy asks incredulously.

"Wait, you did all that?" I ask, shocked.

"Piece of cake," Ulrich says, wiping his hands off. "They're just dumb machines. How's Aelita doing?" Jeremy switches visuals and we see Aelita camping out in an ice cave.

"I'm sure she'll figure something out," Jeremy says. A screen suddenly pops up with an alert. Jeremy switches over to another screen and goes pale.

"Oh no! XANA's managed to enter the program for stealing data. Now all it has to do is collect all of the data and we'll lose it!"

"So, we should deactivate the tower," I suggest.

"Definitely. But Yumi's too far away to be of help. Aelita, whatever you're planning, now would be a good time to spring it."

"Roger," Aelita says. I look over at Yumi's screen and she's battling the Odd clone still.

"Jeremy, we're not getting anywhere!" Yumi exclaims. "He's too tough to take down."

"Hang in there, Yumi," Jeremy encourages. "You just need to stall long enough so that Aelita can deactivate the tower and prevent the data transfer." Yumi throws the mace end of the kusarigama and it strikes the Manta's underside, going through it and hitting the Eye. The Manta explodes and it's just her and the Odd clone now. Meanwhile, we see Aelita hiding while the clone runs out in the open in front of the Megatank.

"You would've thought they'd learn by now with how many times they've been fooled by her clones," Ulrich comments. The Megatank ignores her and goes into the cave.

"Looks like you spoke too soon!" I exclaim.

"No!" Jeremy shouts. The Megatank manages to cut through the small opening and fires a laser horizontally, devirtualizing Aelita.

"Wrong again," Aelita corrects. The visual switches views to the real Aelita, now running to the tower.

"Aelita, you're a genius!" Jeremy says excitedly. "You fooled XANA yet again."

"Why don't you ever try any of those mind games with your clones?" I ask Ulrich.

"I'd rather just use them to beat up monsters," he replies.

"Yumi, it's okay. Aelita's about to deactivate the tower."

"If that's the case then XANA must be trying to speed up the process. Do you see what I see?" Jeremy glances at what Yumi's talking about and we see the Odd clone furiously moving data around on the interface.

"Yumi, stop him!" Jeremy shouts. "If he gets the data before the tower's deactivated our efforts will be for nothing!" Yumi opens her fans but is suddenly attacked by another pack of Mantas.

"Easier said than done," Yumi says.

"Jeremy, the tower's been deactivated," Aelita says from the other screen.

"Whew," Jeremy sighs in relief. "And not a moment too soon. XANA was 80% of the way through with the data collection."

"Checkmate," Yumi says, grinning. The Odd clone tries to manipulate the data but he doesn't have the power to anymore. He snarls and shoots her with Laser Arrows and she gets devirtualized. Jeremy brings Aelita back and we converge in the Lab.

"So what was so important about this data that XANA had to have his hands on it?" Ulrich asks.

"I think I've got an idea," Jeremy says. "XANA doesn't need any of the data about Lyoko. He knows we have copies of Hopper's notes so it's useless if he destroys that too. I think he was after data about the structure of the supercomputer itself."

"Shouldn't XANA know a ton about the supercomputer?" I question. "It even took over the Return to the Past program."

"XANA knows how to manipulate the workings of the supercomputer, but he doesn't know how it's actually built and how it functions," Jeremy explains. "XANA wants to obtain data about the supercomputer so he can narrow his search for a new supercomputer that he can inhabit."

"Maybe we should go retrieve that data then," Aelita suggests.

"How about another time? That was exhausting," Yumi says. "I'm ready to rest."

"I second that," I pipe up.

"Looks like the gang's in agreement," Jeremy says. "Good work, team."

* * *

The next day we're celebrating Ulrich's birthday. It's a Friday so classes are a little shorter, and we agree to meet at Ulrich and Odd's room. Despite our best attempts Ulrich insisted on nothing more than just gifts and a little stroll in the park, so we obliged. I study with Jeremy at the library for a little while, and then we start heading back to the dorms.

"You ever wonder why he doesn't want us to do something grand for him?" Jeremy asks as we walk.

"Some people just like it quiet and peaceful," I answer.

"You can say that again," Jeremy says.

"Plus this whole thing between him and Yumi," I add.

"What? What thing?" Jeremy asks, bewildered. I shake my head.

"You know, how Yumi asked what today was and it got awkward," I remind him.

"Oh, that," Jeremy says. "I didn't see a big problem."

"You've got a long way to go in reading people, Einstein," I say, and shove him a little.

"You're really mean-spirited towards me, you know," he says.

"It's because I'm worried for you. Sometimes life tips don't get through to that brain that's filled with computer science and physics." We arrive and knock on the boys' door, and Odd opens up.

"Perfect! Now all we need is Yumi!" Odd says, and goes back to sitting on his bed. I sit down next to Ulrich and Jeremy next to Odd. Kiwi barks at me and I pat his head.

"Feed him this," Odd says, and tosses me a treat. I give it to him and he wags his tail happily and sits. There's another knock at the door and Odd gets up to open it. Yumi walks into the room and sits down next to Ulrich. I feel him tense up a little.

"Sorry I'm late, guys," Yumi apologizes.

"Don't worry. Now we can get started!" Odd exclaims.

"Uh, thanks for being here, everyone," Ulrich says. "It means a lot to me." I smile and pat him on the back and everyone else nods.

"Here you go, good buddy!" Odd says, pulling out a drawing. It's on a sheet of long paper and it shows Ulrich in his Lyoko avatar on top of a Tarantula, stabbing it. There's a speech bubble that says "Impact!" and it's in full color as well.

"Wow, this is really well drawn, Odd," Ulrich remarks, looking at it. "Thanks for doing this. I'll hang it up right here."

"I'll go next," Jeremy announces. He produces a receipt and hands it to Ulrich. He looks confused.

"What is this?" he asks. "What did you get me?"

"I got you a one year subscription to a cutting-edge program I found online," Jeremy explains. "It has a lot of sports but it's primarily focused on soccer. It analyzes your game footage and gives you stats and other cool tips you can use to improve your game. All you need is for someone to film you or obtain footage. The account info's written on the receipt."

"Wow, let me check it out!" Ulrich says, and turns on his laptop. He browses through the website and is clearly amazed at it. "This is awesome, Jeremy. Thanks so much!"

"My pleasure," Jeremy says, grinning broadly.

"While you're on your laptop, I'll give you my gift," I say, and hand the CD to Ulrich. "I made a mix for you. There's three tracks. You can use it to pump you up before games." Ulrich takes it and inserts it into his laptop and the file comes up. He puts headphones in and listens to it for a little bit, and then takes them out.

"This is so good, Aelita. You're really talented," he compliments.

"It was nothing. I just know a little bit more about your music preferences." Ulrich shuts his laptop off and sits back down on his bed. I look at Yumi and she's waiting for Ulrich.

"I have a gift too," she says softly. She pulls out a box wrapped in paper with Japanese-style flower prints. Ulrich hesitantly takes the box, and then sets it down.

"I'd like to have a moment, if you guys don't mind," he says suddenly. Odd and Jeremy shrug and walk out of the room. I give a small smile to both of them and follow Odd and Jeremy out. I close the door and wait a few feet away from their room.

"They're still fighting, huh," Odd remarks.

"No, I think they're trying to work it out," I say. "I mean, it does look like just a misunderstanding that spiraled out of control to us. But keep in mind they're both sensitive people."

"Since when did you get so good at reading people?" Odd says. "Seriously, I get the feeling that whatever you say about anyone's situation is right."

"It's just intuitions," I say, shrugging. "I'm not always right. It's just what I feel the strongest."

"Sometimes I wish I was more in the know, and other times I'm glad I stay out of it," Jeremy says.

"Always be in the know, Einstein," Odd advises. "You never know when some of that information could come in handy."

"I'm sure it helps you a lot in your quest for girls," Jeremy remarks sarcastically.

"Better to know too much than not at all," Odd retorts.

"I think Odd is too much in the know and you're not enough," I say to Jeremy. "It's healthy to strike a balance."

"Yeah, I suppose you're right," Jeremy admits. I smile and give him a kiss on the lips.

"Ugh, Aelita, did you really have to do that now?" Odd says in disgust. He makes fake choking noises and wraps his hands around his neck.

"Hey, what's all the ruckus about?" Jim rumbles. We turn around and see him walking towards us. "Where's the rest of your Fantastic Five?"

"Uh, they're out shopping," Odd says quickly. "We were just about to go join them. Nothing to see here, Jim."

"Uh huh. Sure thing, Della Robbia. You know, I've stopped caring about whatever you fools do since it doesn't seem to affect anyone, but you should still stay out of trouble. You don't wanna have to deal with my wrath."

"Jim, we promise we're not doing anything wrong," Jeremy says. "We just really like hanging out together."

"If you say so, Belpois," Jim says. "I'm sure you'll really like hanging out together in detention the next time you all skip gym class at the same time!"

"It won't happen, Jim," I say reassuringly. "We'll be right on time so you can teach us more about RSG and ping pong."

"You better be! You're learning from the best when it comes to ping-pong! Boy, I've got war scars from my time as a ping-pong player, but…"

"You'd rather not talk about it," Odd finishes for him. Jim glares at him and he giggles. "Don't worry about it, we won't make you talk. Sorry we wasted your time." Jim crosses his arms and walks past us, out of the dorm and into the park.

Yumi emerges from the room and walks up to us.

"Hey guys, I gotta go home and do some stuff, but I'll meet you guys in a bit," she says. Odd and Jeremy nod and go back into the room. They come out with Ulrich and they start heading to the park with a Frisbee.

"Coming, Aelita?" Jeremy calls.

"Just a minute, I have some stuff to do too," I say. They walk out and I turn to Yumi.

"Aelita, you don't have to do this," she says.

"Just tell me how it went," I say. "I want to be reassured my friends are okay."

"I don't know, to be honest," she sighs. "I guess we've gotten over this specific incident. But I still don't know how we're going to solve this greater problem."

"It hasn't been that bad, has it?" I ask, concerned. "It was only this and the fight about Odd."

"Yeah, but there's been a bunch of minor things. Like we'll blow up and then just forget about it 10 minutes later. It's like the petty jealousness we used to have of each other."

"You'll learn to deal with it," I say, although I'm not so sure myself.

"Hopefully. Maybe it'll just always be there and we'll have to learn to live with it."

"I still remind Jeremy constantly to get out and be social," I offer. "But I know he's not wired like that. I'm still trying to change him but if it doesn't work, I won't be upset over it."

"Sure," Yumi says distantly. "At least we got this worked out. I don't want to worry about something bigger right now."

"It'll all turn out well," I say, and give her a hug. She beams.

"You're the best, Aelita."

"I suppose it's okay to forget my birthday, until I remember when my real one is," I joke. Yumi chuckles.

"I won't forget yours. Or Ulrich's, ever again. You guys are the most important people in my life."


	19. Chapter 19: Connection

**Yumi then Jeremy POV. Next chapter will be some epic duels in the Digital Sea. Enjoy, and leave a review if you liked it!**

* * *

The air between us is still a bit too cool for my liking after his birthday. We'd talked about our feelings, the misunderstanding, and how to resolve the issue. He admitted he should have been more considerate of my life and I apologized for not remembering him even with the other things in my life. We talked about his mental and social shell he'd constructed, my sense of being overly independent, and our mutual insecurity. We agreed to put it past us but it would still take a few days to let it completely wash away. I'd gotten him a pendant, thinking it'd be nice if we each had something to wear to represent our relationship. But for the past few days we'd only made small talk and he acted as if he never got a gift from me.

I move my toast on my plate around mindlessly with my knife. Middle of the week blues and senioritis are a deadly combination.

"What's wrong, Sis?" Hiroki asks. "Problem with you-know-who?"

"It's college," I lie, although that was partially it too. My two remaining decisions were coming up as well as my regular decisions for Oxford and Heidelberg. I wasn't feeling too sure on the latter two and I had no clue what to expect for the others. My only guarantee was the school I applied to in France.

"Don't worry, Sis, you'll get in somewhere," Hiroki says.

"Thanks for the encouragement," I say sarcastically.

"I'm just trying to help. Some people don't get to go to college, you know." It was true.

"Point for you," I concede. "Hurry up." He scarfs down the rest of his toast and follows me out the door. Hiroki asks me stupid questions on the way there that I mostly tune out or nod to, not paying attention.

"Wait, so you would rather go out with Johnny than sit through another one of Jim's Penchick Salad classes?" Hiroki asks, interrupting my thoughts.

"First of all, it's Pencak Silat, and second of all, stop asking stupid questions," I reprimand.

"Jeez, lay off, Sis. Maybe Ulrich can cheer you up."

"I hope," I say under my breath. We arrive at Kadic and I walk to the cafeteria to join the gang. I walk for a few moments before I realize Hiroki's behind me. I turn around and look at him quizzically.

"My friends are all at the first junior high soccer practice," he says. "You mind if I sit with you guys today?"

"Uh, sure, why not," I say, and lead him to our table.

"Hey, what's mini Ishiyama doing here?" Odd asks.

"He's got no friends so he asked to sit with us," I say, jerking a thumb at him.

"That's not true! They're just all gone! Anyway, where's Ulrich?"

"Probably at soccer practice. You look just as disappointed as Yumi is!" Odd says.

"Ulrich's cool," Hiroki says dreamily. "I wanna be like him."

"No, you wanna be like me," Odd says, flexing. "Magnificent and svelte."

"Scrawny and can't get girls? No thanks," Hiroki says. Odd glares at him and stuffs a croissant in his mouth.

"How has Kadic been for you, Hiroki?" Aelita asks politely. "I don't see you around very often, obviously."

"It's school, what else is there to say?" Hiroki says, shrugging. "Sis helps me out with math sometimes but she's super bad at explaining."

"Or maybe you're just bad at listening," I fire back. Aelita and Odd laugh.

"Hey guys, I'm really close to a breakthrough," Jeremy interrupts. "I'm almost finished reprogramming the Skid as well." He looks up from his laptop and sees Hiroki sitting across from him, confused. "Hiroki? What are you doing here?"

"Skid? What's a Skid?" he asks.

"Don't worry about it," I say quickly. "Anyways, class is starting soon. Shouldn't you be heading off?"

"Yumi's right," Aelita adds. "You really should get going. Jeremy hasn't had much sleep so he tends to babble. It's nothing to worry about."

"Sis, your friends are super cool," Hiroki says as he leaves.

"That was close," Aelita says. "Can't you pay more attention to your surroundings, Jeremy?"

"I'm doing important work. It requires all of my focus," he replies. Aelita shakes her head.

"What's the big news?" Odd asks.

"I think I might have found a way to materialize Franz Hopper," Jeremy announces. We all gasp inadvertently and Aelita stares at him.

"What do you mean? You can bring him back into the scanners?" Aelita asks.

"Not yet. But I can collect what was left of him from the Digital Sea and materialize him on Lyoko, giving him the virtual avatar again," Jeremy replies.

"How'd you figure that out?" I ask curiously. "And isn't he still connected to XANA?"

"It's similar to the materialization program for Aelita," Jeremy explains. "Except for the Digital Sea to Lyoko. We need to get him on Lyoko and into a Way Tower, and from there I can run the program and he'll be whole again. There's still some data of his that's missing though, and that's why we need to do some missions in the Skid."

"But he's still linked to XANA," Aelita interrupts. "We can't bring him back to Earth yet."

"That's true, but I think his link to XANA has been weakened by the multi-agent system," Jeremy says hopefully. "I just need to add some things to the program to release the last of XANA's bonds, and he'll be just like Aelita. Once he gets devirtualized, he'll arrive in the scanner."

"This is a lot to take in, Einstein," Odd remarks. "Just let us know when you get everything figured out. I can't wait to get back in the Skid!"

"Sure thing, Odd," Jeremy says. "I just wanted to let you guys know. Once it's completed then I'll need you all to come." Breakfast ends and we head off to our respective classes.

It feels unusually uneventful for a day at Kadic. Usually there's at least some new information, a XANA attack, or even a school activity to attend. I decide I should at least have a friendly spar, and text Ulrich. **Up for a joust?** I text. I walk to the gym, tensing up as I do. He usually replies quickly but he's not responding. I get to the locker room and start changing. The locker room's empty as well. I suppose not many girls come to train, but it's still too quiet. I finish changing into a gray and pink tank top and black sweatpants when he finally texts back. **Sure. I'll be there ASAP.** I smile and put everything back in my locker. I stretch on a mat in the training room, and spot a couple of guys practicing together. I recognize one of them as Pierre, Ulrich's other sparring partner.

"Mind if I warm up a bit with you two?" I ask.

"Sure thing, Yumi," Pierre says, shrugging. We trade a couple of blows with gloves while his partner sits out. I get loose, trying a few kicks to stretch out more. "You're pretty good," Pierre remarks.

"I could say the same for you," I reply. "How long have you been training?"

"About two years now," he says. "I didn't get into it until Ulrich suggested it to me."

"Looks like you picked it up fast," I comment. His partner gets back into the mix and we take turns defending against each other. They're both a little slower and weaker than me but tough nonetheless. I work up a sweat when someone walks in.

"Hey Yumi. Hey Pierre," Ulrich greets. "Ready to go, Yumi?"

"Oh, yeah, of course," I say. "Thanks for the warmup." Pierre holds a thumbs up and I walk off with Ulrich.

"Doing some training with him?" Ulrich asks as we get set on our own mat.

"Yeah, just some warmups. He's pretty good for only having trained two years."

"My teaching, of course," Ulrich says, holding a hand to his chest. I roll my eyes.

"Ready?" I ask. He nods and we bow to each other. I decide to play defensive the first round, mostly blocking and counterattacking. I've gotten decent at all fighting styles and I prefer a well-balanced mix of offense and defense, but I try to see if I can wear him out. I eventually surprise him with a quick elbow strike and he falls down. He quickly hops back up before I can advance and knocks me to the ground. I grab his hands, preventing him from pushing me down completely. Eventually he gives up and stands up.

"Alright, let's call it a tie," he says, brushing himself off. I get up and nod. We spar for a couple more rounds. I win two and he wins one. We stop after the last round and I pull him up, shaking his hand once he's standing.

"Nice effort," I say.

"You too. You kept me on my toes thinking," he says. I glance over him, the now-messy brown hair, sweat-soaked clothes, and subtle but muscular figure shaping his clothes.

"Let's get changed," I suggest. "Wanna talk after?" He nods in agreement and we head back to our respective locker rooms. I change, pack up my bag and walk out of the gym. He's already waiting for me outside, staring into the distance. "Yoohoo," I say, waving my hand. "Earth to Ulrich."

"Sorry," he says, blinking. He turns to me and I see the pendant I gave him hanging around his neck.

"I see you finally started wearing it," I comment. He looks a little ashamed and embarrassed.

"I still didn't really know how I felt," he admits. "I just needed a few days to clear it out of my system. Played a game, hung out with friends, went for a few runs. I guess that was the best cure for it."

"Mmhm," I murmur, nodding. "I understand. Just let me know if you need more time or something like that."

"I appreciate everything you've done for me," he says. "It means the world. But I think that sometimes it's best to stay away for a little in the short term." He comes over and lifts the necklace on my neck, holding it in his hand. "This really does fit you well."

"Thanks," I say, smiling a little. "It was thoughtful of you. That's what I appreciate more than the necklace itself."

"It was nothing," he brushes off. "If I know what fits you and what you like, there's no reason not to follow that knowledge." He lets go of the gemstone on the necklace and holds both of my hands.

"No matter what, you know I love you," I say softly.

"I love you too," he replies. "No matter what." We share a long, tender kiss that sends chills up my spine and makes me grip him just a little bit tighter. Maybe if I do, I won't ever lose him.

* * *

I'm sitting in history class, bored out of my mind. Sure, this was advanced history and all, but I still didn't see the point of all this. Europe was in turmoil in the 1800s-we know. Tons of nations fighting against each other for power-not like that's ever happened before. I look around at the people in my class. Some seniors, some in lower grades, Herb and Emily. And other kids from the junior high days. All in all, even though classes were mixed up now, I still recognized the kids I had class with in junior high first.

"And so, Otto von Bismarck united the Prussian states to create Germany," the teacher drones on. I also have no friends in this class. No Ulrich, Odd, Aelita, Yumi, or even William to strike a conversation with. Suddenly, I hear a beeping in my bag and lean over the desk to look. I pull the laptop out and open it up, expecting an activated tower. "Belpois! Would you mind not causing distractions during class?" the teacher scolds.

"Sorry, ma'am," I say distractedly. I shut the screen halfway to satisfy her, and then open it back up. The Superscan is inactive but a mysterious dialogue box is open. I glance at it and it's a message from…Franz Hopper. I gulp and take a look at the clock. Five minutes left till class ends…it should be enough time for me to wait it out. _I am here to assist you. Cannot elaborate at the moment. We will discuss materialization as well as your plan. Contact me at the factory ASAP._

"Who you messaging, Jeremy?" some senior behind me asks. "Your League friends?"

"Don't worry about it," I respond, shutting the laptop. The teacher finishes the lesson and the bell rings. I immediately head for the factory. Gym is my next class anyway. I'm almost out of the building when the speaker turns on for an announcement. The students walking in the halls slow down and wait for the announcement.

"Work, work, work, work, work, work, that's all Jim does is work, work, work, work, work, work," someone sings. I recognize it as Odd's voice and put a hand to my forehead. "Me no talk about it hurt, hurt, hurt, hurt, hurt, hurt," he continues. "I know how to work a turret, oh wait I'd rather not talk about it."

"Della Robbia!" Another voice shouts over the speaker. It suddenly clicks off and the students start laughing. I shake my head and run out of the building. At least Jim would be occupied with Odd so he would be late to gym class. I rush to the factory and open my laptop in the Lab, typing in the code to access the dialogue box again.

 _It's Jeremy. I'm in the Lab,_ I type. I wait a few seconds and then Franz replies. _I'm going to transfer you data. We don't have much of a window. I need people to assist me on Lyoko. Act immediately._ I reach for my phone and call Aelita. She doesn't pick up the first time and I try again. After a few rings she picks up.

"Jeremy, this better be important," she says. "I got Mrs. Hertz to let me out for a minute to take this."

"Franz Hopper contacted me. He needs our help on Lyoko," I say urgently.

"How are you so sure this isn't a trap by XANA?" Aelita asks.

"No activated towers detected, and William isn't XANAfied anymore."

"XANA doesn't need to activate a tower for smaller errands. He lured me back there once. Plus, you forgot that those clones seem to be able to mask themselves from your radar."

"We don't have time to argue," I say angrily. "Either we get there and it's a trap, in which case I'll call in backup to come to Lyoko and try to devirtualize you, or this is the real deal and we're missing out on vital information."

"I'll try to get out of class," Aelita sighs. "If we lose everything you can live with it." She hangs up and I stare at my phone. It was true, I was taking a risk. But something about the messages just felt…right. I needed that data from Hopper as soon as possible. It felt like the real Hopper was doing his best to guide us.

I call Ulrich first. No response. I try a few more times and give up. Same result with Yumi. _What is with these guys?_ I wonder. _Sure, class, but it's the end of the day. They should know by now a call from me is probably important._ I consider calling Odd but realize he's probably in detention. I do it anyway and don't get an answer. Finally, I try William. He picks up within the first few rings.

"Hey Jeremy. What's up?" he asks.

"We've got an important mission. Can you come to the factory?"

"I'm in math class but I just finished up my test. I'll see if I can get out."

"Cool, hurry." I hang up and slump down in my chair. It was just going to be Aelita and William. Hopefully XANA didn't try to interfere too much. I notice that Franz has localized his location in the Desert Sector. He's taking shelter in a small cave among the sand pillars. I tense up for a few minutes, waiting for the others to show. Finally I hear the elevator arriving and the door opens up. William walks through and into the Lab.

"So, what is it this time? Activated tower? New monsters?" he says, cracking his knuckles.

"You're going to protect Aelita. It's a very important mission for Franz Hopper," I explain.

"Who's Franz Hopper?" William asks, confused.

"The creator of Lyoko," I say. "I'll explain everything later. Get to the scanner room and wait for Aelita." William heads down the steps and I wait for the elevator to come again. Soon Aelita shows up. "You're late," I scold.

"Well sorry, some people can't just skip class like you," she retorts, and heads down to the scanner room. I virtualize them both in the Desert Sector.

"Hopper's location should be due northwest of you guys," I say. "Sending you the Overwing." Aelita hops on and William turns into his Super Smoke as they go off to the sand towers. I glance at Franz's beacon, glowing steadily on the screen. I do a few keystrokes and bring up the visual to follow along. Aelita and William reach the towers. "Okay, look for a smallish cave somewhere here. It can't be far away."

"Over there! Is that it?" William asks, pointing.

"No, that's just a clearing," Aelita says. They search a few more spots before Aelita finally finds a convincing spot. "Jeremy, is this it?"

"Looks like it. You're really close to the signal. Go inside. William, stay outside and guard her." William materializes the Zweihander and waits outside while the visual follows Aelita inside the cave. She goes through some narrow passages until she finds herself in a giant opening. I hear a familiar jingling and a bright sphere appears. It's smaller than I remembered it and also less radiant.

"Daddy?" Aelita says nervously. She can't believe it either. "Is that you?" I begin to receive more messages on my screen. _We don't have much time. I will need Aelita to escort me to a Way Tower._

"Aelita, you need to follow your father out of the cave and get him to a Way Tower," I relay.

"This will be risky," Aelita murmurs. _We don't have much manpower but William is waiting outside,_ I type. _Ah, yes, the one held by XANA as prisoner,_ he types back. I decide not to read that one out loud.

"William? How's it going out there?" I ask.

"Fine, nothing in sight. Why?"

"You're going to protect Aelita and Franz Hopper as they go to the Way Tower. There's one close to the towers. Keep on the lookout for monsters." Aelita heads out with her father floating behind her. For some reason he still can't communicate on Lyoko, although he can send messages to me.

"Ready, Daddy?" Aelita asks, glancing back. She hops on the Overwing and Hopper floats behind her. William takes off using his Super Smoke. They speed towards the Way Tower but I can't help but feel like something's wrong. XANA surely would've detected Hopper's presence by now. I pull up some old files to see if I can insert some data that lets me track the clones.

"Jeremy, is this the tower?" William asks, interrupting my thoughts. I glance at the visual and they're standing in front of a tower with a white aura around it.

"Sure looks like it," I answer. "Hurry up and get Hopper inside it." Aelita walks to the tower and is a short distance away from it when something materializes in front of her. It's a blob of shadow but it slowly forms the XANA Ulrich. The XANA Odd drops down from an Overboard and lands beside him.

"Jeremy, we've got visitors," Aelita says tensely.

"Protect Hopper at all costs!" I shout. "They can't be allowed to get near him!" Aelita backs away and William appears in front of her.

"I've been waiting to settle the score with you," he says, grimacing. He charges at the Ulrich clone and they lock swords. The Odd clone starts shooting and Aelita forms a shield to protect Hopper.

"Energy Field!" Aelita shouts, and hurls two pink balls when the Odd clone stops firing for a moment. He dodges both of them but lands further away. Meanwhile, William and the Ulrich clone are pretty even. William's blows knock the Ulrich back further but he's quicker and is able to counter.

"Aelita, try to get moving to the tower," I say. "They can't reach you if you're in the tower. You don't have to beat them."

"My shield won't hold much longer," she grunts. William glances over and sees the situation.

"Super Smoke!" he yells, appearing by Aelita and deflecting the Laser Arrows.

"Super Smoke?" the Ulrich clone taunts, sneering. "I'm glad to see you appreciate my gifts, William! Haha!"

"Great," Aelita groans. "They've learned to talk now."

"Guys, we're not getting anywhere," I panic. "Don't try to beat them. Just hold them off long enough to get Franz into the tower."

"Come on, Daddy!" Aelita yells. William shields her from Laser Arrows and she runs with Hopper to the tower. The Ulrich clone spots them and snarls, sprinting to block their way. William appears again in front of them and locks swords with the clone. Aelita activates her shield again and protects Hopper from the Odd clone.

"You're even more annoying than the real Ulrich," William mutters. He Super Smokes behind the clone and swings, forcing the clone into an awkward position as he blocks William's sword.

"Now, Daddy!" Aelita says, and Hopper floats quickly towards the tower and Aelita runs backwards with her shield. The Ulrich clone eyes them and sprints from the weak side, preparing to devirtualize Hopper with his katanas.

"No!" William shouts, and appears in front of Hopper. The clone's sword slams into William and he gets devirtualized, but it allows enough time for Hopper and Aelita to enter the tower. The clones look at each other furiously and then both fade back into shadow. Aelita ascends to the upper level of the tower and Hopper turns into a series of smaller spheres, which float up with her.

 _My time is almost up. Sending you the information now,_ a new message reads. Aelita taps a few options on the interface and the spheres start glowing brighter. A progress bar appears on my screen and the data starts downloading.

"It's good to see you again, Daddy," Aelita says softly.

"It's good to see you too, dear," a voice booms around the tower. Aelita looks stunned for a minute and then comes to her senses. She smiles at the glowing spheres. _The tower must be able to amplify his powers while he's inside it,_ I conclude. The data finishes downloading and Hopper slowly begins to disappear, fading away to the top of the tower. Aelita gives a small wave as he disappears. I breathe a sigh of relief and bring Aelita back in. I store the data in a secure part of the supercomputer and go down to meet them.

I call a meeting at night in my room, to explain the events and analyze the data while the others discuss. I invite William to be there and he agrees to come to the meeting. Odd and Ulrich show up first and they're surprised.

"Hey, Will, what are you doing here?" Odd asks.

"I went on the mission that you couldn't go on today," William says sappily. "And don't call me Will."

"Okay, Will," Odd says, grinning cheesily. William turns to Ulrich.

"This is going to stick, isn't it?"

"Depends how much food you can bribe him with," he answers, shrugging.

"Have you found anything interesting yet, Jeremy?" Aelita asks. She's sitting on the bed and looking at me work while the other three boys argue amongst themselves.

"It seems like it's data on how to collect the data he needs to be made whole on Lyoko again," I say, looking intently on the screen. "It appears he's given me coordinates for other supercomputers where he stored crucial parts of his DNA and digital information."

"So we need the Skid," Aelita concludes.

"Yep. I'm almost done reprogramming it. But what worries me is that these other worlds might not necessarily be created by XANA. So once we enter, the rules are different since they're not Replikas."

"We'll figure it out when the time comes," Aelita says. Yumi walks in and sees William arguing with Odd and Ulrich, and raises an eyebrow at me.

"Okay, everyone's here, so time for me to explain," I say, raising my voice. Everyone sits down and looks at me. "Today I received a message from Franz Hopper. He wanted to meet on Lyoko so he could send important data over. I called all of you but none of you responded except Aelita and William, so that's who I sent."

"I was in class. I can't exactly get up and take a phone call," Ulrich starts.

"Same here," Yumi adds.

"And I was in detention with Jim," Odd says. "He also gave me detention for the next two days too."

"I figured it was you who was singing over the announcements," I say. "Why would you do something so dumb?"

"Jim pissed me off, okay?!" Odd says, stomping his foot. "I didn't finish the run quick enough and he called me scrawny and told me I could do better when I was covered in sweat! And then I said 'Well you try running this and see if you can beat my time. Maybe you'll end up not talking about it!' and he laughed and made me run it again! So I did that as payback."

"Okay, regardless of whatever situation we were in," I say, pausing to glance at Odd, "I sent William and Aelita since they were available. We ran into the Odd and Ulrich clones again but were able to get into the tower. Hopper's sent me data on materialization and the parts of him that we need to retrieve."

"How does he gain power back?" Yumi wonders.

"No idea. But he's obviously at least strong enough to make an occasional trip to Lyoko. That means I need all hands on deck from now on if he wants to meet again for something important."

"We got you, Einstein," Ulrich says. "I guess this means we'll be going back in the Skid soon."

"You guessed it. I made some slight modifications to it, like a better shield and more weapons. But it's essentially unchanged."

"What's the Skid?" William asks, confused.

"The Skidbladnir, our trusty super-sub that can go through the Digital Sea to other worlds!" Odd says proudly. "Aelita pilots it and we all ride in our Nav Skids. Einstein programmed one for you but you were off on a jaunt with XANA. Now you'll get to pilot it and shoot fish for seafood!"

"Uh, okay," William says.

"Class is not an excuse, by the way," I say, annoyed. "What happened to the days where you guys would leave immediately if there was a XANA attack?"

"Should have called us more than a few times," Ulrich says, shrugging. "Or come get us or something." I sigh and turn around, type some stuff to save the data, and then turn back.

"That's all I have for you all. You can go back to your rooms."

"Can't wait to blow up some more Kongres!" Odd exclaims as he walks out. William follows him out. Ulrich whispers something to Yumi and they say goodbye to us, walking out together.

"You may have been a little harsh," Aelita comments.

"I don't think so," I retort. "We're talking about saving the world here."

"Jeremy, we don't dedicate our lives to fighting XANA. Sure it's shaped us into who we are, but sometimes we need to live normal lives. It's like a break from playing hero."

"Living a normal life is pretty boring," I say. "I just studied and went to class every day. Even though it's harder I like balancing XANA and school a lot more."

"I understand what you feel, but the best balance is probably what they're trying to achieve," Aelita says.

"How was seeing your father?" I say, changing the subject.

"I was happy just to see him. Sure it was only for a little while, but just that feeling is great." I nod in agreement.

"It's good to know he's doing all he can to help us. He's given us so much and he's not stopping."

"I hope we'll be able to do it this time," she says softly. "Without sacrificing him." I put a hand on her shoulder.

"It'll all work out," I say reassuringly. She smiles.

"I should probably get going. Thanks for pulling me out today."

"Uh, sure," I say uncertainly. "I was just doing my job."

"Classic dork," she says, and gives me a quick kiss on the lips. Chills run down my spine and she giggles at me. I must look like I've seen a ghost. "Goodnight," she says, and walks out.

"Uh, good night," I say, pushing my glasses back up. She closes the door and I stare at it for a long time, not sure what to feel like. Finally I turn back to my computer. Time to get back to work.


	20. Chapter 20: Amphibious Warfare

**I originally thought about splitting this chapter into two, since it is again way too long, but I was already so far into writing it at the time that I just decided to keep it whole. Ulrich and Aelita alternating POVs. It's really been amazing that I've cranked out 20 chapters in a month. A lot of these and the next few chapters are heavily influenced by Code Lyoko Evolution. I might go on a long tangent about it now. I originally thought CLE was terrible just like everyone else did, but as I began to watch more episodes I appreciated it more. There's a lot of character development and interesting interactions between the characters, even if the overall plot is inconsistent. I especially liked the integration of William into the group and how Ulrich reacts to it. The music is also excellent and creates a lot of emotional moments in the series. That being said I still think the show as a whole is pretty mediocre, but I've appreciated the positive elements a lot more after watching most of the episodes. Anyways, without further ado, Chapter 20.**

* * *

My whole body is sore. I can barely get out of bed without feeling it. We gutted out a close 3-2 win, bringing our record to 6-1 this season so far, almost like a polar opposite of last season. I scored two of the goals and we defended like hell for the final 15 minutes. My goal count's at nine so far for the season. The cleats Yumi gave me have been godsends; they're not only comfortable, they also get great traction and are lightweight. Unfortunately my body's starting to feel the consequences of multiple games in a week and maximum effort. I turn over on my side and groan at the dull pain.

"What's the matter? Got a little knee scrape?" Odd asks, petting Kiwi's head.

"Odd, help me out of bed," I say, raising a hand. Odd looks at me strangely.

"Are you serious, Ulrich? Can't you get out of bed yourself?"

"I'm all sore from the game last night. And I don't wanna roll out of my bed. So help me up." Odd snorts and lifts me up. I wince a little at the numbness in my legs and go get ready. After taking a shower and getting dressed I head down to breakfast with Odd. It's relatively uneventful, and so are my morning classes. In physics I groan as the teacher assigns a presentation on different laws, and I doze off in English class as I finish the work early. I meet up with Yumi after morning classes and we head to lunch together.

"How was your game last night?" she asks. It was a road game so we didn't have many fans there.

"Pretty good," I reply. "We won 3-2. But I'm sore all over today."

"Try taking a bath," she suggests. "And stretch more."

"And where would I take a bath?" I ask sarcastically.

"Beats me. I don't know the struggles of being a border," she says, shrugging. "But at least stretch."

"XANA's been pretty quiet lately," I remark. She stops and glares at me.

"Don't bring up XANA unless you have to," she says quickly.

"It'll be alright, Yumes, we'll figure it out. Einstein will enact his grand plan and then you won't have to deal with this double life anymore. None of us will have to suffer."

"That's what I've been hoping," she sighs. "But I don't think that's going to happen anytime soon."

"Come on. You should try to get some enjoyment out of being on Lyoko."

"This isn't junior high anymore, Ulrich," she says seriously. "We have lives to live. Obligations. Deadlines. It might've been cool to get detention for sneaking off and fight a bunch of monsters, but our time's running out. We have to take care of this problem before it gets out of our control."

"We're doing everything we can," I say. "Einstein's back to working 24/7. We go on every mission possible. As much as it's a pain we have to work out a balance."

"Sure. Let's just hope Einstein can figure things out in time. I've only got a little more than a couple of months left."

"College decisions are next week, aren't they?" I ask softly. She nods solemnly.

"Luckily it seems like all the ones I have left offer pretty decent financial aid, so I don't have to worry about that part," Yumi says, going back to a conversational tone. "Who knows, I could end up in Paris and visit you guys two or three times a year."

"You should go where you think you should be at," I say. We get in line at the cafeteria and I glance up ahead. Tuna casserole today. Honestly, the casserole could be much worse than it is. Rosa gives me a big scoop and I wait for Yumi. She gets her portion and we head towards the Lyoko Warrior table.

"And then I said, 'Sissi, we may be okay with each other now, but you can still sometimes be as stiff as your dad's desk'!" Odd exclaims.

"That wasn't very funny or clever," Aelita comments. "Your jokes have been slacking lately."

"I did it mostly just to annoy her. I also forgot how annoying Delmas can be. 'Della Robbia, you've really gone too far this time! I don't want your hands near any school property, period!'" Odd mocks.

"Looks like he's still hung up on that whole situation a few days ago," Yumi remarks.

"Don't do any of that in the near future," Jeremy advises. "I'm gonna need you guys today."

"For?" I say, raising an eyebrow.

"A little mission. I've located the pieces of data that Hopper needs. I need to energize some of you into the real world where you'll collect the data from the corresponding supercomputer, while the rest of you stand guard."

"So back into the Digital Sea," Odd concludes.

"You guessed it. Does today after school work for everyone?"

"Sure thing," Aelita says.

"Whatever," I say nonchalantly. Odd nods with his mouth full and Yumi shrugs.

"Great. I'll contact William so we can use this to train him for the Digital Sea as well." Jeremy finishes his food quickly and continues to type on his laptop. I take a couple of bites and glance at Yumi. She moves her fork around a little bit, deep in thought, then changes expressions back to one of indifference and takes a bite. _Einstein, you better get this mess sorted out by the end of the year,_ I think. Yumi did have a point. Lyoko threatened to interfere with our regular lives more than it should. Sure, the Return to the Past could alleviate that some, but that still didn't account for the meetings, talks, and planning, not to mention the missions that didn't have to do with deactivating a tower. Even without Lyoko, I had to figure out how I was going to preserve this relationship. Lyoko just made things that more complicated.

After lunch I'm heading to class when I get a phone call. It's from an unknown caller ID. I look around and see everyone hanging out, and figure I still have a little bit of time before class starts. I pick up.

"Hello, is this Ulrich Stern?" a gravelly voice says.

"Um, yeah," I say. "Who is this?"

"I'm Mathias Snobault, and I'm the coach of the soccer team at Boston University." I freeze. I knew Boston University was overseas, and that America had a huge system of college sports. But I had never thought about playing over there. "We've been watching your game tape and recently sent a scout to attend some of your games. We're very impressed with you and would be interested in recruiting you to play for us at the end of next year."

"This is…all very flattering," I stammer. "But I'm a European student. Why me?" I regret it as soon as the words come out of my mouth, thinking it would turn him off. But he proceeds to explain.

"We're looking for an infusion of talent," he says. "The soccer culture isn't as big as we'd like it to be here in America. Contrast that with Europe, where there are tons of bright young stars. We know most of these kids will go pro straight out of high school. But not everyone gets that chance, and we want to prepare you to play pro sports and allow you to have an education too."

"So basically you think I'm not good enough to go pro," I remark sarcastically.

"Not at all what I'm saying. We're pouncing on this opportunity. Think about it. You're a star because everyone you've been playing against who's better than you has already gone pro. You've had the unfortunate situation of being hidden from scouts. But you're already turning heads this season and soon you'll have more offers. I can assure you you'll have distractions from all the recruiting efforts after this season. We can offer you something pro teams can't. An education and the opportunity to play soccer."

"Thanks for letting me know," I say. "Are you going to keep in touch with me?"

"Sure. If you have something to write with I can give you our contact info." I scramble and pull out a notebook and pencil from my bag and write down his phone number and email. "We'll keep an eye on you, Stern. Who knows, we might even invite you to visit." He hangs up and I stare at the notebook. The bell rings and I wince as it means I'm late to class. My head spins and his words echo around in my mind. Recruiting. Pro soccer. More offers.

* * *

We're starting our annual swim unit in gym class. Odd and I are in the same gym and I was there for Jim's scolding and Odd's subsequent blow-up the other day. I smile to myself at the moment. Odd is the clown of our group in every sense of the word, a fun, unpredictable personality that translates to everything he does.

"Okay, listen up," Jim bellows. "This year we're going to teach you lifeguarding. It's an important skill that could save someone's life! Pay attention to my demonstrations. Poliakoff, WHAT DID I JUST SAY?!"

"Uh, you said that boating kills tons of seals worldwide every year?" Nicholas says dumbly.  
We all laugh and Jim grimaces.

"Thanks, Poliakoff. Since we have an odd number, you'll be doing the drills with me! Okay, now watch my first demonstration. Poliakoff, get in the water." Nicholas jumps in the water, making a big splash and dousing all of us. I shiver as a little bit of water gets on me.

"Chill out, Princess. It'll be alright once we get in the water," Odd reassures me. I glance at him and stifle a laugh at his bright trunks with a flame design.

"Interesting choice of trunks, Odd," I sass.

"I like them a lot!" Odd says, grinning. "Total chick magnet."

"More like repellent," I chuckle. "They'll either be blinded by the color or by your immaturity."

"And that is how you save someone from drowning!" Jim yells, pulling in Nicholas on the floatation device. "Now, everyone pair up and practice." I look at Odd and he nods.

"I'll go first. Cannonball!" he jumps in and I back away quickly to avoid more water splashing on me. Jim blows the whistle and the class begins to attempt the mock rescues. I watch as some people miss the tube when swimming towards it and others pull it in too fast. "Help! I'm drowning!" Odd says in a high-pitched voice. "Oh miss, throw me that tube!"

"Cut it out, Odd," I laugh. I toss him the tube and he grabs onto it and jerks it back. "Hey!" I shout. I pull the tube back and he grips it tightly as I pull him in.

"Della Robbia!" Jim screams. "Stop your horsing around! If this were a real situation you would've drowned and taken Miss Stones with you!"

"My bad, Jimbo," Odd says, climbing out of the pool.

"Don't call me that," Jim growls.

"Sorry. Should I call you Paco instead?" Jim's face turns really red and he looks like he'll explode, but calms down at the last second.

"Della Robbia, if I hear one more thing out of your mouth unrelated to our lesson, you'll be having a nice chat with Mr. Delmas again." Odd casts a sideways glance at me and I shoot him a glare for his stupidity. I get in the water and swim around a little to warm up.

"Okay, Princess, ready to be saved?" Odd calls. I nod and he throws the tube. It comes straight at me and I put my hands up to block it at the last second.

"Odd, throw it better!" I scold.

"Sorry, Aelita, let's try again." He throws the tube again but it goes too far this time. He pulls it in and I grab on as he does, completing the rescue. We do a few more exercises with life rafts and rings and Jim makes us finish by swimming some laps. I'm a decent swimmer, but not as good as Jeremy, who's surprisingly the best swimmer out of all of us. He doesn't go out for a swim often, but I can tell he's talented at it and I always try to drag him out for one. After class I get changed in the locker room and head to my last two classes, waiting for the day to end.

After school I quickly head to the factory for the mission. When I arrive in the Lab William and Ulrich are already there.

"Hey, Aelita," Jeremy greets.

"We'll see who the better swordsman is with this statistics program," Ulrich says, jerking his thumb at the supercomputer.

"It's only because you've been fighting more," William retorts. "The counting starts now."

"Ah, the old test of manliness," I mutter. "Gotta love it."

"For the record, Ulrich is in the all-time lead with 764 total monsters killed. Yumi is second with 557, and Odd's close behind with 542. Aelita trails them with 380. William, you've got 36."

"I thought I won that one little competition though, Jeremy," I tease.

"That was just for that week," he says, quickly blushing. I can tell he's lying. Ulrich looks at him with scorn and then decides to drop it. The elevator door opens and Odd and Yumi come through.

"Okay, Odd, let's make this a three-way competition," William declares. "We'll see who kills the most monsters this week."

"Fine by me!" Odd exclaims. "You two should just give up already. Nobody can kill seafood better than Odd the Magnificent!" He holds up his wrists and pretends to blow off smoke. Yumi glances at me with a look that says, "Help".

"Boys," she says, shaking her head. I grin as they bicker amongst themselves.

"No more quarreling, you guys," Jeremy says. "Now that we're all here, get to the scanners. I'll materialize you guys in Sector 5 and you'll take the Skid to get to the world housed by the supercomputer." We all take the elevator down and walk into the scanner room.

"I can even beat you guys to the scanners!" Ulrich proclaims. He quickly sprints to one of them.

"Oh, no you don't!" William says. He rushes to the other one and Odd takes the third one. The doors close and they start the virtualization process.

"Unbelievable," I say, shaking my head.

"Hopefully they'll be able to channel their energy into something useful," I say, grimacing. A moment later the doors open and we step into the scanners. The wind begins to blow and I close my eyes as the familiar feeling of being scanned covers me. I open my eyes and land next to Yumi on the floor. The three boys are waiting.

"Welcome to Lyoko, ladies," Odd greets.

"Thanks, Odd," I reply. "Let's get going." The door opens and we run down the hallway. I notice that it's just a straight path now.

"Jeremy? What happened to the countdown?" I ask.

"I did some housekeeping. The countdown reset after the supercomputer was shut down, and I realized it was causing us inconvenience so I reprogrammed Carthage without the countdown like before."

"That's too bad, that was one more thing I could've beat these two at," Ulrich says.

"Will you cut it out? All of you," Yumi says icily. That shuts them up and we arrive at the elevator. It carries us up to the Skid hanger and as I walk in I note the sleeker design of the submarine as well as some new aesthetics.

"Okay, everyone get on your transporter spots," Jeremy commands. "Energize." We all disappear from the spots and teleport into the Skid. I grab the two handles and scan over the familiar controls.

"Whoa, this is really cool," William remarks.

"Preparing to take off. I'm releasing the dock," Jeremy says over the speakers.

"Roger. Rotation," I say, turning the jets into a vertical position. The Skidbladnir blasts off and I steer it towards the exit of Carthage. "Preparing to dive." I drive the Skid into the Digital Sea and soon locate the exit for Lyoko. We enter the true Digital Sea, in all of its blue serenity and calm.

"Wow," William breathes.

"It won't stay that way for long," Odd interrupts. "Besides, you'll get used to it."

"I'm sending the coordinates for the virtual world," Jeremy says. A few seconds later they appear on my screen and I type them in for the Skid.

"Roger. Rotation, and maximum propulsion," I command, and press the buttons. The Skid slowly folds until it becomes horizontal, and then speeds off.

"There should be a hub just ahead," Jeremy says. "Dive into that one and it should bring you within the vicinity of the world."

"Integration in three seconds," I say, rotating the Skid once more. We dive into the hub and come out into a different part of the sea. This time the Digital Sea is red.

"Looks like we've got a welcoming committee," Yumi says grimly.

"Uh, why did the sea just change colors?" William asks nervously.

"Don't worry about it. You can follow me on this one," Ulrich says.

"It's just like playing Galactic Fighters, Will!" Odd exclaims. I see three Sharks on the sonar.

"Okay, crew, three Sharks are coming your way," I announce. "Who's ready to rumble?"

"Ready," they all say simultaneously, except for William.

"Uh, what are we fighting?" William asks nervously.

"You'll learn on the job," Odd says impatiently. "Release us, Aelita."

"Nav Skids away," I say, finally pulling all four levers down with my fingers. The Nav Skids zoom off into the distance where I can see the Sharks coming. Ulrich's Nav Skid dodges the torpedoes from the first Shark and chases after it.

"Come here, fishface!" Odd yells. He's being pursued by one of the Sharks and he does twists and turns through the pillars. I see the last Shark on the sonar chasing William's Nav Skid, while Yumi chases after the Shark.

"I hope this works," William mutters. He fires two torpedoes and the Shark easily evades both of them. The torpedoes almost hit Yumi's Nav Skid and she flies out of the way at the last second.

"Watch your aim!" Yumi scolds.

"It helps if you lock on to your target before firing," Ulrich adds sarcastically. "Like this!" Ulrich does a loop back around and then fires his torpedoes at the Shark. One of them connects and it explodes.

"These things are tough to shake off," William comments.

"Who wants shark fin soup tonight?" Odd asks rhetorically. He suddenly dives down and the Shark follows him. He suddenly kills his jets and the Shark zooms past him as he fires his torpedoes. The Shark explodes and he flies back up to meet with Ulrich's Skid.

"Let me take care of this one, rook," Yumi says. She locks on to the last Shark chasing William but before she can fire the Shark fires at William and his Nav Skid takes a hit.

"Careful, William, your shield just lost half its energy from that torpedo," Jeremy warns.

"No worries, I think I'm finally starting to get the hang of it," William says.

"Fire!" Yumi shouts. Her torpedoes slam into the Shark and it explodes.

"Okay, that should take care of that," Jeremy says. "Get going to the floodgate."

"Hold on, Jeremy," I say. The sonar starts picking up multiple red dots. "There seems to be more activity coming our way."

"I see it, Aelita. But the Nav Skids are running low on power."

"You mean we got more fish to put in our grand old chowder?" Odd jokes.

"Odd, not the time for jokes," I scold. "The Sharks were just a diversion. Now that the Nav Skids are low on energy XANA can send his full force."

"Amazing the things XANA can do at 75% power," Yumi mutters.

"This can't be right," I murmur. There's a bunch of red dots all clustered together and moving rapidly towards us.

"What's wrong, Aelita?" Ulrich asks.

"There seems to be a huge school of Kongres. Headed right our way," I say grimly.

"Come on, let's go," Ulrich says. He zooms off to the now-visible school and the others follow.

"Keep your eyes peeled, Aelita," Jeremy says. "XANA could send something nasty for you too."

"What do you want me to do?" I ask. "I'm not exactly of much use against a bunch of monsters faster than me."

"I've downloaded new weapons into the Skid," Jeremy replies. "If the others need you fly over there and start firing."

"Okay," I say, looking over the controls. I find the buttons for all the battle mechanisms. Defensive shield, electromagnetic pulse, torpedoes, lasers…this was almost over the top. I see a couple of explosions in front of me and the Nav Skids zooming around. The battle must have begun. Suddenly something latches onto the Skid from above. I look and it's a Kalamar. It pops out the drill and begins drilling away at the Skid. More begin to latch on to the Skid at different sides, each drilling away.

"Aelita! Activate the electrical pulse now!" Jeremy yells. "There's a pack of Kongres breaking off and heading towards the Skid too!"

"Jeremy, they've damaged the power supply," I say frantically. "I don't know if I'll have enough to fight off all of the monsters."

"Hey! Two of you break off and go help Aelita!" Jeremy says to the others.

"We're kind of stuck in a pickle too, if you haven't noticed," Ulrich grunts. I see the Nav Skids beginning to fly away and the rest of the Kongres start to swim towards me.

"Electromagnetic pulse!" I shout, and slam the button. The Skid lights up and sends electricity through its exterior, shocking the Kalamars off the surface. I fire the Skid's torpedoes and destroy all of them, just as the Kongres arrive and begin shooting. I see Odd and William's Nav Skids flying in behind them.

"Jeremy, there's no way I can fight off all of them," I moan.

"I have an idea but it might be a little risky," Jeremy says. "Odd and William, try to lure the Kongres away!"

"We're all down to our last torpedo, Jeremy!" William says.

"It doesn't matter. Just lure them away from the Skid!" Jeremy orders. Odd and William fly near the Kongres and some of them follow the Nav Skids. I manage to create a little distance while they distract them. "Okay, if you lower your shield it should give you enough power to fire the new lasers," Jeremy says.

"Roger," I say, transferring power from the shield to the rest of the Skid. A laser hits the Skid and the ship rocks violently, shaking me. I bring up the lasers and press my thumbs to the sticks. Barrels appear on both sides of the Skid and start whirring. Lasers fire rapidly out of the barrels and I aim them towards all the Kongres. They're quickly destroyed and I'm amazed at the firepower.

"Wow!" Odd shouts. "We won't ever need to leave the Skid if Aelita can fire like that!"

"It drains a lot of power," Jeremy says. "It's only for use under heavy fire." I pilot the Skid towards where Ulrich and Yumi are and clean up the mess for them too.

"Nice shot, Aelita," Yumi compliments. "You saved us there."

"It's like the Skid's version of a minigun," Ulrich says. I turn off the lasers and power the shield back on. The Sea turns blue again as all of XANA's monsters have been destroyed.

"Nav Skids in," I call, and the Nav Skids all lock onto the Skid again.

"Okay, while you were battling I hacked the lock for the floodgate," Jeremy says. "I sent you the key, Aelita."

"Roger." I press my hand to the sensor and the Skid sends a beam to the gate, opening it. I rotate the Skid and fly into the gate. We emerge to see a world not dissimilar to Lyoko. There's a single, barren island with some rock formations and palm trees.

"Cool, we're on the beach," Odd comments.

"Jeremy, where do you want me to dock the Skid?" I ask.

"There should be a central hub that powers this world," Jeremy says. I spot a small, shining pentagon not far away.

"Is that landing spot over there it?" I ask.

"It should be. Dock the Skid there." I fly over to it and land in the middle, positioning the Skid so it balances by itself.

"I'll need Aelita to go retrieve the data. Who wants to come with her?" Jeremy proposes.

"I will," Yumi says immediately.

"Cool, now we get to see who's truly better," William says.

"Exactly why I'm not staying around," Yumi sighs.

"Transfer," Jeremy says. A moment later I appear as a specter next to Yumi. I look around and we're in a strange place. I can see desert in the distance, but beach at the other end.

"Jeremy? Where are we?" Yumi asks.

"The first supercomputer that Hopper hid his data in…hold on, let me find you on the world map…you're in Australia."

* * *

"Transfer," Jeremy says, and soon we find ourselves outside the Skid.

"Feels good to be back on dry land," I say, unsheathing one of my swords.

"You three will explore this world and watch the Skid while I help Yumi and Aelita," Jeremy says.

"We can't all go explore," William points out. "Nobody will be around to watch the Skid."

"Good thinking, Will!" Odd shouts. "You stay and watch the Skid while Ulrich and I go explore."

"Hey, no volunteering," William retorts.

"I agree," Jeremy chimes in. "Odd, since you so kindly volunteered, you'll be staying to watch the Skid while Ulrich and William go explore this island."

"What?!" Odd yells. "That's not fair!"

"Sorry, good buddy," I say, shrugging. Jeremy materializes the Overbike and I hop on. "Need a lift?" I ask William.

"Nah, I think I'm gonna smoke," he says, grinning. I roll my eyes at his bad pun and we speed off. The island's physical features are similar to Lyoko, but the territory's a lot more varied. There's dunes and beaches and cliffs, along with different kinds of trees.

"What is this place based on?" I wonder aloud.

"Australia," Jeremy replies. "The island's fairly small since the supercomputer isn't as powerful as the one we have."

"Wait, so what is Lyoko based on then?" William asks, confused.

"Nothing. Hopper's skilled enough that he designed Lyoko completely how he wanted it to be. Most of the Replikas and this world were created with less resources and skill, so they took on the features of the supercomputer's actual environment." We stop traveling and take another look.

"Race you to the top of that dune," I say, pointing to a relatively tall formation in the distance.

"You're on," William says. "Super Smoke!" He takes off and I hop back on the Overbike, speeding after him. I reach the dune just before he does and jump off the Overbike, laughing.

"Come on, hotshot," I taunt. "You can go faster than that."

"I can't compete with a vehicle," he grumbles. "Race me with your Super Sprint and I'll smoke you in every way."

"Guys, stop fooling around," Jeremy says, annoyed. "What do you see?" I hold my hand on my brow and peer out over the distance.

"Just more physical features, but I can see the Digital Sea surrounding the island too," I report.

"The Skid is that way," William says, pointing.

"No shit, Sherlock."

"Don't have to be an ass about it," he mutters. He plunges his big sword into the sand and leans on it. "I have a feeling this place isn't gonna be very kind to us."

"Why?" I snort. "It's calm for miles around. For all we know there's nothing here."

"Even when I was XANAfied I was never as cocky as you are now," William says.

"Hmm," I say, pretending to think. "Nah, you were pretty arrogant too. XANA does that to people. Besides, you wouldn't remember anyway."

"Still harboring some old feelings?" he questions. I shrug. He was kind of right, I did still resent him a little. But it wasn't personal anymore, just leftovers that I still hung on to.

"Nah. I'm just introducing you to our competitions here so you can get a taste of our monster killing contests."

"Don't forget that I let you get the girl," William reminds me.

"You didn't let her, she rejected you," I correct.

"I could've easily gone after her still. You know I don't give up. She probably would've come back to me considering it took you three more years to finally pull the trigger." I freeze and glare at him.

"Careful with reopening old scars," I growl. "I don't understand you. One day it's like you've put the past behind you and the next you try to bring everything up from it."

"Look, Ulrich, I'm tired of being the bad guy," William says. "I'm not going to get in the way of you two. I realized you're perfect for each other. If I can only do one thing in my life I want to help people. I don't want to be turned away and looked down upon for something that I had no control over. So just spare me. I was kidding around with our past. I want to be your friend. I want to be part of the group."

"Sorry for being an ass," I say, ashamed. "I'd like to put all that behind us too. And I'll try to take a joke better next time."

"That part of you definitely could use some work," he says, chuckling. I turn around and stare back at the Skid with William. I squint and see if I can find Odd.

"I hate to interrupt you two, but the Skid is under attack!" Jeremy announces. "Three Krabs and three Mantas. Plus it looks like Odd has his hands full with a clone."

"Wait, did he hear our conversation?" William says, embarrassed.

"Maybe," I say, shrugging. "You'll get used to it. He's learned to tune us out when we're not fighting and we've stopped caring if he does listen."

"Get a move on it!" Jeremy commands. I hop on the Overbike and William turns into smoke as we rush back to the Skid. We get there and find that the monsters are attacking the Skid and Odd is behind it, fighting the Yumi clone.

"Take care of the monsters," I say to William. "I'll go give Odd a hand."

"Are you serious? It's six against one," William yells.

"Here, let me give you a head start," I say. I rev up the Overbike and drive straight towards one of the Krabs, crashing the bike into the Krab's legs. The Krab falls to the ground and I jump on top of it, stabbing it with my Katana. I Super Sprint over to Odd.

"About time you guys got here!" Odd complains. He's shooting at the Yumi clone but she's expertly deflecting his Laser Arrows and advancing.

"Hey!" I shout. I throw some shurikens and the clone flips out of the way to avoid them. She throws her fans at me and I bat them out of the way with my swords. The clone starts touching her fingers to her temples and I begin to float. "Odd, attack her now!" I order. I start to move towards the Digital Sea.

"Geronimo!" Odd yells, rushing in with his claws. The clone opens a fan and blocks his attacks while I'm still floating. "Ulrich, we're gonna need help," Odd says, panicked.

"William!" I shout. "You have to attack the clone!" William looks over from where he's surrounded by the Krabs and Mantas.

"Super Smoke!" He evades the lasers and appears away from the monsters. William charges up his sword and sends a shockwave at the Yumi clone. It strikes her cleanly and she falls backwards, releasing me as I do. I pop back up quickly and sprint over to the clone.

"Up for a tag team, good buddy?" Odd suggests.

"No," I say, shaking my head. "William needs help with the monsters. Go take on the Mantas."

"If you say so," he says, shrugging. "Jeremy, can you send me a taxi?"

"Coming right up," he replies, and a few seconds later the Overboard appears. Odd hops on and speeds off to fight with William. I see a whirling disc out of the corner of my eye and quickly block it with my sword.

"Looks like XANA learned how to program more life points too," I muse. I charge at the clone with both my swords, and she charges with her fans. We lock into a long and intense fight and I can't find any openings. I beat her back to make some room. "Triangulate!" I yell, beginning to enclose her. She smirks while I'm running and throws both her fans, breaking the barrier and knocking me backwards. "Hey, when did XANA learn to bend the rules?" I grumble.

"The barrier's not indestructible, Ulrich," Jeremy reminds me. "It just has a massive confusing effect. Maybe XANA upgraded the clones to be immune to that."

"Fantastic!" I roar with frustration. "Triplicate!" The three of us run at the clone and she immediately zones in on me. _Great, so that doesn't work either._ She throws her fans and I slide on the ground to avoid them. I make one of my clones rush towards her. She runs toward the clone and throws her fan. "Fusion!" I yell. I get up as my clones come back to me and kick the clone while she's out of position. She lands on her back and I run over. "Impact!" I yell, stabbing a sword into her. The Yumi clone snarls and fades away.

"Good job, Ulrich," Jeremy says. "Now help get rid of the monsters." I glance over and see the Mantas shooting at Odd, while William deals with the last Krab. I Super Sprint over to help.

* * *

We start walking in the direction of a large, industrial building. There's a fence around it and it looks pretty top-secret.

"Jeremy, what do we do with the supercomputer when we're there?" Yumi asks.

"It's a bit more difficult than previous missions. You obviously have to extract the data. And you also have to do it sneakily."

"And how are we supposed to do that?" I say, throwing my hands in the air. "Not only do they probably have cameras, we'll stick out like sore thumbs in our outfits!"

"I'll get to hacking the camera feed. Once I disable that and the other security measures, I'll guide you on retrieving the data and then devirtualize you back to the Skid."

"Sounds good," I say. We're still a ways away from the complex. I scan the entrance, looking for a passage.

"You think they've killed each other yet on that island?" Yumi remarks sarcastically.

"I sure hope not. I don't get boys sometimes," I reply.

"Sometimes? More like all the time," she snorts. "Testosterone imbalance is an underrated cause of stupidity in teenage boys."

"Well, except for Jeremy," I say, laughing.

"He's special," Yumi admits. "He doesn't seem to be affected by it. The others all get dumber. William gets cocky, Odd takes even less things seriously and Ulrich becomes super stubborn."

"Sometimes I wish he would," I murmur. "I guess it'll be a lifelong thing. I want him to be more social, to meet new people and have interactions. I'm sure there's plenty of intelligent people just like him and if he keeps to his machines he'll never meet them."

"It'll be alright," Yumi says, putting a hand on my shoulder. "As long as he has you he'll know there are important things other than what he's interested in. And you're really good with people, so you'll be able to help him too."

"Thanks, Yumi," I say, smiling. "How are things with Ulrich?"

"Meh," she says, shrugging. "We kind of worked things out, I guess. I'm still a little afraid of when our next flare-up might be but for now we're cool."

"At least you know you're able to work things out," I encourage. "And I'm sure you'll be able to settle your differences eventually." We arrive at the fence surrounding the complex and hide behind a metal post.

"Okay, what now?" I whisper.

"Maybe we can find a vent or something to get through," Yumi suggests. I look around and spot one high up on the building.

"I see one," I say, pointing, "But how are we going to get up there?"

"Maybe we can find some way to climb," Yumi suggests.

"Aelita has wings," Jeremy chimes in. "And Yumi, you can flip up there. Or hold on to Aelita."

"Thanks, Jeremy," Yumi says, her voice dripping with sarcasm. I tap my bracelet and sure enough, wings pop out of my back.

"I'll have to go when the guards aren't looking," I mutter.

"I'll tell you when," Yumi says. She peeks around the post and takes a look at the guards. "Okay, they're checking a vehicle. Go now." I nod and fly silently to the roof below the vent. I pull at it and it won't budge.

"Yumi, get up here," I hiss. She flips over the fence and silently jumps from wall to wall, landing beside me.

"Wow, good work, Yumi," Jeremy remarks. She brushes herself off and comes over.

"So it won't move?" she asks. I nod.

"Guess we better just go by force," I say, charging up an Energy Field.

"Wait! There's a better way," Yumi says. She unfolds a fan and slowly cuts through the metal bars in the vent. "There you go. Don't be an Ulrich-excuse me, bonehead if you're going to use force," she says, grinning. I giggle and climb into the vent. She follows me and we crawl for a bit before we come to a crossroads with two paths.

"Jeremy, which way do we go?" I ask.

"Hold on, let me pull up the map of the vent system," Jeremy says. "Okay, you should go left and come to another fork soon. Careful, I'm getting weird readings. It appears this system occasionally conducts purges."

"What does that mean?" Yumi asks.

"They'll send gases through all the shafts to clean the system. It'll devirtualize you if you breathe it in. I don't know when the next one is supposed to be."

"Let's not stick around to find out," I say. We keep climbing through the vents, following Jeremy's instructions.

"Stop!" Jeremy shouts. I stop and see a vent shaft that goes straight down in front of me. I peer through and see the metal gate there. The occasional person walks by.

"Is this the supercomputer room?" I ask.

"Sure is," Jeremy replies. "But I don't know how you're going to get rid of those scientists."

"Couldn't we just knock them out for a little bit?" Yumi asks.

"As a last resort, yes. But I'm gonna try to find something else that works," Jeremy says.

"It's a little cramped in here, so hurry up," I complain.

"Oh no!" Jeremy exclaims suddenly.

"What?" I ask, confused.

"The Skid's being attacked. The Yumi clone and monsters are there."

"Should one of us go back?" Yumi quips.

"Uh, no. They can handle it."

"Whatever you say."

"That's not our only problem, though," Jeremy adds. "The vent system is undergoing a purge soon. I can't stop it from happening and you two can't let it hit you."

"Hack the camera system," Yumi demands.

"But what about the scientists-"

"We'll deal with them," I add. "It's the only way now, Jeremy." I hear Jeremy sigh and the sound of more keystrokes.

"The system's down," Jeremy announces. "Hurry, it won't last long and there's 30 seconds until the purge happens." I drop down but don't have space to twist my body, landing headfirst into the vent and breaking through. I land on the floor and the few scientists all stare at me in shock. Yumi lands next to me and knocks them all out.

"Don't forget to twist your body, Princess," she chuckles, lifting me up. "Looks like you've got some marks on your face."

"Do I really?" I ask, embarrassed.

"Of course not," she laughs.

"Get to the supercomputer, Aelita. Yumi, stand watch at the door. They'll be sending in reinforcements soon." I rush over to the computer. It's a huge contraption with multiple screens and keyboards.

"The data should be in a restricted area of the computer," Jeremy says. "I'll guide you." I type in different passwords and access new screens and data.

"We don't have much time left," Yumi says worriedly. "The alarm just sounded."

"We're almost there," Jeremy says. "Open a channel to transfer the data to our supercomputer." I open it and the data transfer starts. 10%, 20%, 30%. We hear banging and loud sounds on the door.

"Jeremy, if they see us we're toast," I say, worried.

"The transfer's almost done," Jeremy grits. "Yes, it's done!" The screen flashes 100% and goes away. "We need to erase the evidence. I can do that from here but I'll get you out first."

"You should hurry up, they're almost through the door!" Yumi shouts. We disappear just as the door is destroyed and soldiers come through.

I wake up in the Skid and it's rocking violently.

"Jeremy, what's going on?" I yell.

"The Skid's under attack from the two remaining Mantas. Ulrich's alone fighting them."

"Transfer us!" Yumi shouts. Jeremy does and we appear outside the Skid.

"Finally, backup!" Ulrich comments. He's standing outside the Skid and deflecting lasers from the Mantas. I activate my wings and throw Energy Fields at the Mantas. I hit one of them and I see a fan slice through the other.

"Man, you're really off your game today," Yumi says to Ulrich.

"I already took out a clone and a Krab, so give me a break," he says. "The Overbike can't fly that high." We get energized back into the Skid and I fly it back to Lyoko as Jeremy activates a Return to the Past.

* * *

After going through the same day with the same recruiting call, we meet at the Lab in the afternoon to discuss. Jeremy's analyzing the data obtained from the supercomputer.

"Why did you activate a Return to the Past, Jeremy?" William asks. "Nothing happened in the real world."

"The attention we drew was a bit too much for my liking," Jeremy replies. "Better to be safe than sorry, especially with a highly guarded supercomputer like that one."

"How is the data, Jeremy?" Aelita asks.

"It's great. It's more pieces of Franz Hopper's digital data. I don't know why he stored it in this supercomputer, but it'll definitely help me reconstruct his avatar again."

"That was a lot," William remarks.

"We used to do this all the time!" Odd exclaims. "Digital Sea battles, tower activation, land battles. It's a blast! By the way, Jeremy, can you bring up our statistics?" I see Yumi facepalm out of the corner of my eye and Aelita sighing.

"Um, for this mission, Ulrich killed a Shark, five Kongres, a Krab, and a clone. William killed three Kongres and two Krabs, and Odd killed a Shark, three Kongres, and a Manta."

"Ha! I even beat you two in the Digital Sea," I gloat.

"Once I get more experience you're going down," William says.

"Can you all stop with this competition?" Aelita says exasperatedly. "It's pointless and not the focus of what our missions are supposed to be."

"Yeah, yeah, we'll tone it down," Odd says. He then glances at me, smirking.

"How many more places do you think Hopper hid his data?" Yumi asks Jeremy.

"I'm not sure. But I should be able to find more clues with this data. It'll be a long process."

"You keep up with your long processes. I've gotta get to the rink, and then it's pork sliders for me for dinner! Woohoo!" Odd shouts, jumping up and down.

"I'll stay here for a bit and see if we find anything important," Aelita says. The rest of us head up through the elevator. Odd challenges William to a race and they take off.

"I'll never understand you guys, you know," Yumi says.

"I got an interesting call today," I bring up. She raises an eyebrow.

"Usually when we get interesting calls it's XANA on the other end," she remarks.

"No, no. I got a recruiting call. From Boston University. They apparently sent a scout to the game yesterday and they have interest in me." Yumi's eyes light up.

"Really, Ulrich? That's fantastic!" she says excitedly.

"I don't know yet," I say, shrugging. "This is my first recruiting call. The coach told me there'd be more coming. He said that playing college soccer in America would be more useful than going to the pros directly."

"Of course it would," Yumi agrees. "Most pro athletes don't have long careers. You're gonna need an education to survive for the rest of your life."

"I'll consider it," I say. "College soccer does seem fun. I don't know about studying overseas, though."

"You'll be fine," Yumi says. I smile and wrap an arm around her. Even though I'm an inch taller it still feels like we're the same height.

"I'll be far away from wherever you go if I take up an offer," I say quietly.

"Do what's best for you," she advises. "As long as you do that I'll support you."

"Are you sure?"

"Definitely." A light breeze whips up and blows through the forest, providing a calming presence.

"We'll defeat XANA before you leave. I'll make sure of it," I say determinedly.

"You may be a good warrior, but you're no Jeremy," she chuckles. "It's not up to you to decide when XANA is gone for good."

"I'll do whatever I can," I say. "For you."

"That's very touching, Ulrich," she says, kissing me on the cheek. "And I'll do the same for you." We walk quietly back to the campus, the fresh spring trees reflecting our own inner calm.

* * *

 **S/O to my loyal reviewer tyrexe who's been here since the start, and also to Vice-Tessenjutsu. I wouldn't mind a couple more reviews if you all have some time :)**


	21. Chapter 21: A Mysterious Enemy

**Things are starting to heat up. Alternating Jeremy and Odd POV. I'm gonna try and wrap this fic up by mid-June, so the plot might be a bit underdeveloped but we'll work with it. Enjoy, and reviews welcome!**

* * *

For most people mid-April is a reason to stress. Tests upon tests are just around the corner. It's painful for me too but it's just a lot of work, but not hard work. School without Lyoko had been pretty boring the past couple years and I kept myself busy by studying more quantum physics and also brushing up on subjects I wasn't great at, like history. Although this year I had far more stress than anybody else at Kadic because of that stupid program. William and Yumi are graduating in a month and a half and I have to find a way to kill off XANA for good before then. Before we lose two members and our group gets weaker.

I get up and run a quick scan on my laptop. I'd decoded most of the data collected from the supercomputer but I had yet to decipher the location of where we needed to collect the next pieces. I decide to let it run remotely and tuck my laptop away in my bag. I head down to breakfast and strangely only see Aelita there.

"Good morning," I greet. "Where's everyone else?"

"Must be sleeping in," Aelita says, shrugging. "Odd and Ulrich got some new game for PC yesterday. And Yumi usually arrives late."

"Well, they've got about 20 minutes before class starts," I say, pointing to my watch.

"How has the decoding been? It's been a little more than a week now," Aelita remarks.

"It's fine. I've gotten everything except the location of the next pieces of data. I ran a program just now that should continue working throughout the day."

"That's great," Aelita compliments. "I hope we get to see my dad soon."

"I'm doing everything I can," I promise.

"We're counting on you to pull this off, you know," she says quietly. I nod solemnly. I was almost done with the new multi-agent system and I had found some preliminary info on how to alter the Core's energy. But I was nowhere close on the trapping program, and I couldn't modify the Core the way I wanted to yet.

"I'm kind of nervous too," I admit. "That's why I think your father should be our priority. Surely he'd be able to help with my plan or propose something even better."

"You know, it isn't the end of the world if you don't finish before this year," Aelita says. "Sure we'll be down to three fighters, but we beat XANA ultimately through brains, not brawn. As long as you're here we have a chance."

"Thanks, Aelita," I say. "But I want to finish this. For us. For our group. For the Lyoko Warriors."

"Don't be too hard on yourself, Jeremy," she says, taking my hand across the table. I gaze over her bright pink hair, twinkling eyes and benevolent expression. "You've already achieved so much. You've done things nobody else would have been able to accomplish. You should sit back sometimes and reflect on it."

"Maybe you're right," I admit. "But for now, it's more work. I can enjoy it once the world is safe."

I sit through the day, and art class hits me especially hard. It's one of those required classes that I have to take, and I held off on doing it until I couldn't escape this year. I slosh some paint on my paper and make some random strokes to pass the time. The teacher walks around, inspecting our works.

"Ah, Belpois, what do we have here?" he asks, curious.

"Uh, it's abstract," I lie quickly. "It's supposed to represent entropy and the universe."

"Very interesting. Keep working and it may turn out fantastic." I resist the urge to snicker as he walks away.

"Abstract?" Sissi snorts, coming over. "That looks like a bunch of chicken scratch to me."

"It's okay Sissi. Not everyone understands different interpretations of art," I say, smirking.

"Humph. Look at mine and tell me it isn't better than yours." She pulls up her painting and it's a detailed watercolor of the soccer fields, no doubt inspired by a certain someone. _I wonder why she still can't let it go,_ I think. We were on merely okay terms with Sissi, but it was better than the vitriol from junior high. The painting was pretty impressive.

"Nope, still not as good," I say cheesily. She shakes her head and walks away. I go back to making "abstract" art when I hear a beeping coming from my bag. I quickly flip open my laptop, expecting to see an activated tower, but it's the alert that the program is done. My eyes scan the progress and I conclude it's done. Suddenly, an urgent message pops up on the screen. _Extract quickly and carefully. Avoid contact at all costs. They cannot be alerted to your presence.-FH._ I stare at the message, confused.

"Belpois? Something important on your computer?" the teacher asks. I quickly shut the laptop.

"No, nothing at all," I say quickly. "I'll get back to painting, sir." He nods and turns away. Class ends and I start dialing Aelita's number. No response. I dial Ulrich next.

"Ulrich, where's Aelita?" I ask.

"No clue. Haven't seen her at all today."

"Yeah, by the way, where were you all this morning?"

"Odd slept in. I went off with Yumi." I decide not to ask any more details.

"I've just decoded the next location of the data we need for Hopper," I say, changing the subject. "He sent me a message saying we should do it immediately. But we'll need everyone there. Can you go find Aelita?"

"Sure. I'll take Odd with me." I hear a muffled protest and some chewing noises.

"I'll get the others," I say, and hang up. I call both Yumi and William. Yumi says she'll take a little bit to get out of class and William says he'll meet me immediately. I head over to the factory and start inputting coordinates for the world controlled by the supercomputer. William arrives and I debrief him on the situation. Yumi gets to the Lab a few minutes later and gets the same rundown.

"Where are the others?" Yumi asks.

"Going out to search for Aelita," I respond. "She didn't pick up her cell phone."

"You think it's-" William starts.

"Can't be," I say, shaking my head. "The Superscan didn't pick up any activated towers."

"I'm not so relaxed about that," Yumi remarks. "Call Ulrich and Odd and see if they've found anything."

I dial Ulrich's number and don't get a response. I try the same with Odd and get the same result.

"No answer," I say nervously.

"I'll go out and look for them," William declares.

"No. We don't need more people getting lost to whatever it is out there," I say.

"They might be in danger, Jeremy," Yumi says, agreeing with William. "We can't just sit around and twiddle our thumbs, hoping they'll come."

"Okay," I concede. "One of you will go out and look for them. The other stays here. I need at least one person to go on this mission."

"I'll go," Yumi volunteers.

"Hey, I wanna go!" William says. Yumi rolls her eyes.

"This is not something to fight over," she scolds. "Besides, I know those fools better. Let me go." She brushes past William and goes into the elevator.

"Don't look at me," I say. "You should know by now there's no arguing with her."

"I guess," he says, shrugging. I bite my lip, wondering what could be holding them up.

* * *

"What a genius Einstein is! No activated tower my ass!" I yell as we run. Ulrich's carrying an unconscious Aelita and we're running through the park. I'd gone with Ulrich to find Aelita only to run into a specter.

"That door won't hold long," Ulrich grunts. "Let's run faster." We sprint through a thicket of trees and I take a look behind me. It doesn't seem like the specter is following us. I suddenly run into someone and fall backwards.

"Watch where you're going!" Yumi snaps. She gets up and brushes herself off.

"Sorry, Yumes," I say. Ulrich looks at me and raises an eyebrow.

"Let's get going to the factory," Ulrich says. "Aelita should wake up soon and I bet there's an activated tower if a specter's running around." We nod in agreement and start heading off when another Yumi emerges from the woods.

"Uh oh," I say nervously. The two Yumis glare at each other.

"Looks like we've got a polymorphic specter on our hands," Ulrich mutters.

"I came from the Lab, I have to be the real one!" the first one says.

"Unless it's a trick by XANA, you fake!" the second one exclaims. Ulrich shakes his head.

"Let's play a game," I suggest. "Ulrich and I will ask both of you questions and we'll tell who the fake one is."

"Sure, why not," they say simultaneously.

"Okay. Yumi and Yumi, what base have you gotten to with Ulrich?" I see Ulrich's cheeks grow red and he starts seething.

"Don't ask stupid questions, Odd," they say at the same time again. I facepalm.

"This might take a while," I mutter. "Okay, what used to piss you off the most about William?"

"He's super clingy and he doesn't give up," the first one answers.

"He's inconsiderate about how other people feel about his act and he's a wannabe bad boy," the second one answers right after. I look at Ulrich.

"They're both right answers," I say. "I think you're the real one." I motion to the second Yumi. "Your answer was more sophisticated."

"Enough," Ulrich says coldly. He lays Aelita down on the ground gently and steps forward. "Yumi, what does love mean to you?" He stares intensely at both of them.

"It means dependence," the first one says simply. "Weakness, and a new sense of having to rely on someone."

"It means freedom," the second one says. "A new world of adventures with someone who's special to you. No more jealousy, questions, and mystery." Ulrich stares at them both for a while, and then nods toward the first one. I think she's the fake, but then they both lunge towards the second one. I lift Aelita up, straining under the weight, and start running towards the factory. I look behind me and the specter's knocked both of them to the ground.

"Ulrich, run!" Yumi shouts. "I'll take care of the specter." Ulrich nods and starts running with me. We both take turns holding Aelita and go down into the sewers, opting to run instead of skateboarding. We get to the lab and Jeremy and William are waiting.

"Where's Yumi? And what happened to Aelita?" Jeremy asks.

"Specter. You should probably check if your Superscan's software has the newest update," I grumble. "BECAUSE THERE'S OBVIOUSLY A TOWER ACTIVATED! And Yumi's taking care of the specter."

"Uh, okay. That's weird. I'll check the Superscan immediately," Jeremy says.

"Jeremy, what do we do?" Ulrich asks.

"Oh…" Aelita moans, starting to move around. Ulrich and I watch her as she wakes up. "What happened?"

"You were attacked by a specter," Ulrich explains. "We brought you here to the Lab. Yumi's fighting the specter in the woods."

"Jeremy, where's the activated tower?" Aelita asks.

"That's the problem. The Superscan doesn't pick up anything."

"Maybe it's the one in Sector 5," Aelita suggests. "That one didn't show up on the Superscan the last time it was activated."

"But we still have to extract the data. Hopper's message said it was urgent," Jeremy says, thinking.

"We'll split up then," William says.

"But who's gonna pilot the Skid if I have to deactivate the tower?" Aelita asks.

"One of you three will have to," Jeremy says to us. "I'll guide you."

"I could barely even fly a Nav Skid, so I don't think you'd trust me," William says, backing out. "I'll go with Aelita to deactivate the tower."

"I'll do it!" I volunteer. "I'm great at video games. That's what the Skid is like, right?"

"Not exactly," Jeremy says, sighing.

"Want me to fly it?" Ulrich asks.

"Hey, no fair!" I protest.

"Oh my lord," Jeremy says exasperatedly. "Here. Heads it's Odd, tails it's Ulrich." He flips it and it lands tails. "Ulrich it is."

"Best two out of three," I say.

"No, Odd," they all say simultaneously. I sigh and shove my hands in my pockets.

"I'll virtualize you all in Sector 5. Get to the scanners." We get in and Ulrich, Aelita and I are virtualized first. William lands a moment later in the Arena.

"Okay, Odd and Ulrich head for the Skid hangar and I'll guide William and Aelita to the tower." The door opens and we run through the hallways of Carthage. Aelita and William split off and run to another hallway and Ulrich and I reach the elevator. It starts zooming up to the Skid hangar.

"Say, how did you figure out which one was the real Yumi?" I wonder.

"I know her too well," he replies. "She likes to pretend love doesn't matter to her. She would never go and openly say what it truly means to her. But XANA's gotten pretty powerful if he can put up that good of an imitation. We'll have to be careful."

"Did you hear that, Einstein?" I shout. "Find some way to damage XANA's personality program! It's gotten good at copying us!"

"That's just a little hurdle we'll have to jump," Jeremy replies. "You're almost at the hangar. Once you get inside the Skid I'll give Ulrich instructions." We step on our transporter spots and Jeremy transfers us into the Skid.

"I hope you bought Skid insurance, I'm feeling a lot of crashes this trip," I remark.

"Shut up, Odd," Ulrich mutters.

"Okay, Ulrich, press the buttons on the joysticks and you should start to lift off."

"It is a video game!" I exclaim. "I'd be way better at this than him!"

"Odd, shut up and let Ulrich concentrate," Jeremy says, annoyed. We take off and leave Sector 5, diving into the Digital Sea. Ulrich scrapes the side of the floodgate as we exit and I make sure he knows.

"Alright, I'm sending you the coordinates for the hub," Jeremy says. "Just follow it, dive in and the world shouldn't be far once you emerge." We go through the Hub and emerge in another part of the Digital Sea. Luckily XANA hasn't sent us any seafood to deal with yet. Ulrich hacks the lock on the floodgate and we enter the world. It's unlike anything we've ever seen. There's a large floating gate surrounding a bigger complex. Various towers rise up and the place seems to be guarding something.

"It's like a giant virtual castle," I remark.

"You can say that again," Ulrich agrees. "Jeremy, the gate is locked. What do we do?"

"Give me a moment to hack it," Jeremy says. I sit back in the seat and cross my arms.

"What do you think this place holds? It's kind of spooky," I comment.

"It must be pretty powerful supercomputer that designed this," Ulrich answers.

"I wonder what's inside. Maybe a lifetime supply of spaghetti and meatballs," I dream.

"I don't think so, Odd. Look up there!" Ulrich shouts. I look up at the top of the gate. There's a ton of Creepers emerging and taking their places at the turrets.

"Can you release my Nav Skid?" I ask.

"I'm not gonna risk it. The Skid has its own weapons. Jeremy, what's taking so long?" Ulrich yells.

"Someone's put a complex encryption on the gate. Try to hold off the Creepers while I figure something out," Jeremy says. The Creepers rain lasers down on us and the Skid takes a beating. Ulrich drives us away as they keep firing.

"Alright, here goes nothing," Ulrich says. He activates the Skid's guns and starts firing, driving in closer. The Creepers are destroyed quickly as Ulrich turns the Skid to aim at more.

"Yeah, you show 'em!" I cheer on. Ulrich destroys the last of them and retracts the guns.

"I can't seem to find a way in," Jeremy sighs. "Try flying around the barrier." Ulrich flies the Skid above the giant wall and we're suddenly hit with an electrical shock. The Skid flies backwards from the wall.

"So that doesn't work," Ulrich grumbles.

"Hold on, I'm really close," Jeremy says. "There, got it. I would explain to you how I did it but Odd would just shut me up."

"That's right!" I pipe up.

"Okay, Ulrich, hit the pad as soon as you lock the Skid in place and you should be able to open it." Ulrich inserts the key and a blue beam comes out of the Skid, unlocking the gate. We fly through and enter the castle. It's mostly vast open paths surrounded by metallic structures.

"There should be a docking point straight up ahead," Jeremy says.

"I see it, but it looks like we've got company," Ulrich mutters. Beside the glowing tower is a new monster. It looks like a giant turtle but it has cannons for arms. The red Eye of XANA glows on its head. It sees the Skid and takes aim at us.

"Been a while since XANA's designed a new monster," Jeremy remarks. "What are you gonna name him, Odd?"

"Let's wait till after we're done fighting it to decide," I reply. The monster launches a ball at the Skid and it explodes, rocking the ship violently.

"It sure is powerful," Ulrich grunts. He activates the guns again and the monster pops into its shell, deflecting all the lasers.

"Wouldn't it be better if we fought it on the ground?" I ask. "Anytime we aim at it it's just gonna go back into the shell."

"Our shields are at 20%," Ulrich mutters. "We can't risk trying to dock the Skid and having it shoot at us again."

"We'll run out of power anyway if we keep up like this," I argue.

"Odd's right," Jeremy agrees. "I'll energize both of you. I'll pilot the Skid remotely and dock it while you fight that thing." The monster charges up another bomb and blasts it at us, and Ulrich swerves to avoid it. I feel myself getting transferred and a moment later I land with Ulrich. The monster turns and faces us while the Skid flies away.

"Laser Arrows!" I shout, and the monster raises its arms to deflect them. "No fair, your arms are made of steel too?!"

"Super Sprint!" Ulrich shouts, running towards it. It fires a bomb and Ulrich holds up his sword to deflect it, but it explodes, knocking him back.

"You just lost 50 life points, Ulrich," Jeremy warns. "You can't take another hit like that."

"Odd, distract him while I sneak in," Ulrich says. I nod and do flips over to it.

"Yoohoo! Catch me if you can!" I taunt. It turns and starts firing at me. I dodge and fire Laser Arrows at the target. One of them hits but it doesn't seem to be fazed by the arrow.

"Triangulate!" Ulrich yells, running in his famous triangle around the monster. It's confused and Ulrich strikes, jumping on top and stabbing its Eye. His sword gets stuck but the monster still doesn't explode. "What the fuck?!" he shouts. He pulls out his other sword and stabs it into the Eye, and it begins to light up. Ulrich jumps off just as it blows, and he rolls around to avoid his swords as they come flying at him.

"That thing's tough, and it hits hard," I remark. "That's the first time it's taken more than one hit on the Eye."

"Hopefully there aren't more of those," Ulrich says, brushing himself off. "But I have a feeling there are."

"That's enough for now. I'll transfer you back into the Skid and then transfer you to the real world," Jeremy says. We run towards the Skid and Jeremy transfers us into the Skid, and then to the real world.

* * *

"Jeremy, where are we?" Ulrich asks. "It's a little snowy here and it feels like we're high up."

"According to the map you're in a secluded mountain range in Switzerland," I say. "Try to find where the supercomputer is located."

"You're a comedian," Odd remarks sarcastically. "Where do you expect us to find a lab?"

"The teleportation is pretty accurate most of the time, so you should go looking around yourself," I say, annoyed. I turn back to the other screen. "Aelita, William, how are you guys doing?"

"We've found the tower but there's no way across," William says. I glance at the visual and see a giant gap between them and the tower. Three Mantas fly around on the gap and Creepers block the way as well.

"Aelita, you can fly over to the tower, right?" I ask.

"Yes Jeremy, but I'll be gunned down by the Mantas as soon as I do. It's too tight of a space," Aelita replies. The Creepers start firing and Aelita shields both of them. William jumps out and fires a shockwave, killing two of them. He charges, wielding his sword with one hand and deflecting lasers.

"Aelita, try to see if you can find an opening," I tell her. She walks forward, deflecting the fast lasers from the monsters with her shield.

"If only Odd were here to ride the Mantas," she remarks. More Creepers start appearing out of the sides of the walls.

"Jeremy, there's too many of them!" William shouts. "Can't you do something?"

"Sorry, I can't do anything from here," I say. "Your vehicles wouldn't be of much use and I can't make anything else appear." They fight intensely for some more time while I fidget in my chair nervously. I hear the elevator door open and turn around. It's Yumi.

"Hello, Jeremy," she says in a strange voice. I suddenly remember that the specter on the loose can polymorph and nervously get out of my chair. "What's the matter?" she says, smirking and advancing. _Okay, it's definitely the specter,_ I think. I run and grab a rake from the storage of weapons, with the Yumi clone on my heels. I turn around and swing but it goes right through the specter and she knocks me against the wall. I groan and the specter begins to move towards the computer. I get up and grab a baseball bat, running towards the specter again. This time I connect and she gets knocked to the ground. She shoots lightning from her fingertips and I block it with the bat, but it burns part of it off and I'm stuck with a singed stick. She shoots another bolt and raises me in the air.

"Aaghghghhhahh!" I yell. Being electrocuted never hurts less despite how many times it happens to you. I'm suddenly released and I hit the ground with a thud. I lift my head and see the real Yumi fighting the specter. She looks badly bruised but she's still able to fight.

"Jeremy, toss me a weapon!" Yumi yells. I crawl over to the storage and get another rake. I throw it to Yumi just as she backflips to avoid another lightning bolt. She blocks the next one but the bolt's energy burns off the end of the rake. She twirls the stick like a bo staff with a determined look on her face. I get back to the computer and take a glance at the screen.

"Guys, can you hear me?" I ask.

"Finally, Einstein!" Odd says. "We've found the lab but we don't know how to get in. It's locked up just like the virtual one is!"

"Jeremy, big trouble," Aelita interrupts. "William's lost a lot of Life Points and the Creepers won't stop coming."

"Odd and Ulrich, you'll have to chill for a little bit," I tell them.

"Thanks, as if it wasn't already chilly enough here," Ulrich grumbles. I hear a thud and see Yumi laying against the wall. The specter starts walking towards her and she deflects the lightning bolts with the stick.

"The tower is the priority right now," I say to everyone. "Aelita, try to use the Mantas to get you to the tower." I look at the visual and William's blocking Creeper fire at every turn while Aelita shields and throws Energy Fields. William spins and slices through a few of them, creating an opening.

"Go now!" William shouts. Aelita runs and reaches the edge, and the Mantas converge on her. She jumps onto one of them and screams as it starts bucking.

"Aelita!" I shout desperately. She jumps off and goes onto another Manta. The two Mantas surround her but don't attack. She jumps and activates her wings, flying speedily towards the tower. The Mantas give chase and fire. A laser hits one of her wings and she spirals downward, rolling across the platform and into the tower.

"Jeremy, it's okay, I made it," she gasps.

"Great job. Now deactivate the tower," I say. I lean back in my chair but I feel a tug on my shirt and I'm thrown across the room again. I land next to Yumi, who's also not in great shape. The specter glares at us, its XANA eyes burning.

* * *

"What's going on at the Lab?" Ulrich grumbles. We're hiding behind a small rock formation and eyeing the gate. There's a single entrance with metallic doors.

"Specter probably caught up. Jeremy didn't sound too hot when he was talking to us," I say, shrugging.

"They're probably in danger," he says, thinking. "Yumi and Jeremy."

"That's why deactivating the tower is the priority," I finish. "Until then we'll chill here."

"We need to do something. Hopper said we had to extract it quickly." Ulrich pounds his fist on the rock.

"You got any bright ideas? That's a solid wall of steel and there's probably guards or something behind it."

"Yeah. We bust through." Ulrich unsheathes a katana.

"What are you gonna do, cut that down?" I say in disbelief. Ulrich jumps down from our hiding spot. "Hey, wait!" I follow him to the door. He stabs it and makes a dent but nothing else. I shoot some Laser Arrows and they disappear harmlessly when they touch the metal.

"We'll never get anywhere with this," I say.

"Here, let me try something. Step back." I do and Ulrich throws a shuriken. It buries itself in the door and Ulrich holds a hand to it, closing his eyes. The shuriken explodes and a small hole forms in the door, smoking from the explosion. "Oh yeah," he says, smirking. He throws all of his shurikens and makes them explode simultaneously, busting the door down.

"You're the man, good buddy," I compliment. I follow him in and see a hangar and then another regular-sized door. We walk through what looks like a science building, with pristine white hallways. There's nowhere to hide. Suddenly the alarm goes off and we freeze. A bunch of guards run in front of us, armed with futuristic-looking guns.

"Guys, what are you doing?!" Jeremy asks suddenly, panicking. "We've deactivated the tower so everything's cool here. What's going on?"

"Big shot over here decided to rush in and now we're in a pickle," I say, backing up with Ulrich. He pulls out his swords and snarls.

"Bring it on. The more the merrier."

"I don't know what effect your weapons could have on them. They don't seem to be XANAfied so if you hit them it might kill them!" Jeremy exclaims. They open fire and we dodge out of the way. I see a blue plasma blast whiz past me and hit the wall at the end of the corridor. It burns straight through the wall, leaving a neat hole.

"I guess we'll lose our life points if we get hit by one of those," I remark. "Laser Arrows!"

"No, Odd!" Jeremy shouts. The arrows hit one of the guards and shock him, making him slump onto the ground.

"No sweat, Jeremy, it looks like they're just out cold," I say. "Besides, I'm not sure we could kill them if we wanted to with all that armor!"

"Great, what am I supposed to do?" Ulrich says. The guards open fire again and I flip out of the way. Ulrich tries to block a blast with his sword but it disintegrates his sword immediately. "So now the rules are that my swords can't block anything?" he asks, pulling out his other one.

"I've got your back," I reassure. I shoot more Laser Arrows at the guards and they go down, stunned. Finally there's one left. He fires at us and we dodge out of the way, and I shoot an arrow as I do, stunning him.

"That takes care of that," I say, blowing at my wrists.

"Jeremy, can you find out what my swords do as a specter?" Ulrich asks.

"I'll get on it," he promises. "For now, get to the supercomputer room. It should be close by. Follow this hallway down to the end and take a right." He continues to give us instructions until we reach the room. It's a large, round room with the machine sitting in the center. Smaller computers and dashboards line the sides and there's a shelf in the back.

"Okay, Ulrich, try finding the data in the supercomputer," Jeremy instructs.

"There's a million different colored buttons," Ulrich says. "How am I supposed to know how to find it?"

"Can you describe what it looks like to me?"

"I just did," he says. Jeremy sighs exasperatedly.

"There's a lot of screens open," I attempt. "And it has a keyboard, with a lot of other buttons on the lower part of the supercomputer."

"I think I know what type it is," Jeremy says.

"Really? Just from all that?"

"No. Not really. But I'll try to get a visual up," Jeremy says. Ulrich tinkers around with it while we wait.

"Hmm, maybe this is it," he says, clicking on a menu. "Nope, this is just more code I don't understand."

"Sorry, I don't think I can pull up a visual if you guys are specters," Jeremy says. "I can only do it on Lyoko."

"Great, so now what do we do?" I say, throwing my hands in the air.

"You give up." We spin around and see a man in a white lab coat standing at the door. He closes it and faces us. He's fairly tall, has dark hair, and looks to be in his 50s. "Trespassing is generally frowned upon, children."

"Who are you?" Ulrich asks angrily. He chuckles and smiles maliciously.

"I'd been warned about you. Tell me, little specters, what brings you to my lab? What are you so interested in that prompts you to risk yourselves against my security?"

"It wasn't that hard," I say defiantly. "Mind your own business." He laughs again.

"Are you looking for…perhaps…Franz Hopper?" he inquires. Ulrich and I look at each other in shock. "Ah, yes. The fool thought he would be clever and hide in the place he thought the enemy wouldn't expect. Such a shame, for a brilliant mind he is a terrible tactician."

"Jeremy, who is this guy?" Ulrich asks.

"I have no clue," he responds. "I'll get you out of there immediately."

"Jeremy Belpois!" the man exclaims, laughing. I'm convinced he's more insane than Sissi. "The mastermind behind the operation. I have great respect for your talents. Sadly inferior to both Hopper and I, however."

"Who are you?" Jeremy exclaims. "Who do you work for?" Ulrich charges at the man with his sword and he grabs it. I see there's green gloves on both of his hands. "Ulrich, no!" Jeremy screams. The man squeezes Ulrich's sword and it explodes. Ulrich backs away, out of shurikens and now swords as well.

"Nothing but digital dust," he says sadistically. "Oh don't look at me like that, it'll take Belpois but five seconds to program new swords."

"Who are you?" Ulrich bellows. The man sneers and looks us in the eyes.

"I work for XANA." He raises a hand and shoots a green beam out of the glove. We jump out of the way as he does.

"Are you crazy?" I yell. "You know XANA's trying to take over the world, right?"

"I am very aware," he replies. "And once he does, I will rule by his side."

"XANA doesn't care about you!" Jeremy yells. "He's only using you to get what he wants."

"How very immature," the man says, shaking his head.

"Odd, hold him off," Ulrich says. "I'll try to get the data from the computer."

"What makes you think I can't kill you two right now?" the man asks. He suddenly fires the green beams again and it catches us both. He lifts us in the air and I start feeling a burning sensation. I try firing my Laser Arrows but I'm frozen.

"Permanent digitization. Similar to the Digital Sea," the man laughs.

"Jeremy, do something!" Ulrich yells.

"I can't seem to devirtualize you," Jeremy says, panicking.

"I guess this is the end," I moan.

"Come on, why won't you work faster?" the man growls at his gloves. He sighs and stares at them.

"I've managed to load your specters with energy for a split instant," Jeremy whispers. "When I load them, try to bust out of his grip and keep him down so I can devirtualize you."

"Do you have any last words?" he bellows. "Nobody will be there to sweep up your digital bits."

"Yeah," I snap. "I don't believe in last words." I suddenly feel my body fill with energy and I break out of the beam. I fire some Laser Arrows, causing him to drop Ulrich as well. I extend my claws and charge at him and he blocks with his gloves.

"I'm devirtualizing you now!" Jeremy shouts.

"So long, senior citizen!" I say and give a final swipe as Ulrich and I reappear in the Skid.

"Ugh, my head," Ulrich groans.

"No time to drag your feet, Ulrich," Jeremy says. "Time to fly home." Ulrich flies the Skid out of the fortress, bumping a few more walls, and we get back to Lyoko.

"Okay, I'll launch a Return to the Past," Jeremy says as we reappear in the scanners.

"Something tells me that won't stop that dude," I say.

"It might not, but we're pretty badly beat up anyhow, so here goes," Jeremy says. The white light covers us and when I open my eyes I'm lying in bed again.

"Ulrich, get up," I say, nudging him. He flips around immediately.

"Let's meet up with the others," he says. We get dressed and head down to breakfast. Everyone's already there.

"We almost died this time," I say, munching on a croissant.

"Jeremy, who do you think that man was? He seemed to be pretty powerful. He could listen in on us and had some kind of digitization powers," Aelita says.

"I have no clue. But I was able to localize his lab and I should be able to figure it out from there," Jeremy says, deep in thought. "You guys got lucky. That digitization beam was only able to digitize your weapons, which I can reprogram any day."

"The stakes are even higher now," Yumi says. "We know there are people working with XANA."

"Not necessarily multiple people," Jeremy corrects. "You'd have to be knowledgeable in a variety of subjects in order to interest XANA. The people working for these people have no idea what they're doing, they're just following orders."

"Do you think he might've been XANAfied?" William asks.

"No," Ulrich says almost immediately. "I didn't see anything in his eyes, and his voice sounded normal. XANA usually isn't that talkative when he possesses people either."

"I agree," I add. "He's just screwed up in the head, but not because of XANA."

"Anyways, we still don't have the data for Hopper's rematerialization," Jeremy says. "And that will be closely guarded from now on. I only hope the other places aren't guarded by more people working with XANA."

"This just gets better and better," Yumi says sarcastically.

"What are you gonna name this new monster, Odd?" Aelita asks. I rest my head on my fist for a while.

"Warturtle," I say finally. "If any of you get that reference." They all stare at me blankly and I sigh.

"Sounds like a fine name to me nonetheless," William comments.

"I'll head over to the factory and do some research after school," Jeremy says. "Until then, just keep your eyes peeled for any more attacks." The bell rings and we head off to class.

"Hey," I say to Ulrich. "Weren't you supposed to meet with Yumi this morning?"

"We already talked about it the first time," he replies. "So no need."

"What'd you talk about?" I prod. He raises an eyebrow and then shrugs.

"She told her parents about us," he says. "She said her dad was pretty indifferent and her mom was a little bit happy about it. She might invite me over for dinner sometime."

"You're in, my man," I say, offering a fist bump.

"I just don't wanna make a fool of myself in front of them," he mutters. "I don't know what they'll think once they meet me."

"They'll love you," I say reassuringly. "Hiroki looks up to you and he blabs about you all the time to them."

"We'll see," he says nonchalantly. We sit down in the math classroom and I laugh at how I used to say math would be the death of me. It ultimately might be, just in a twisted way.


	22. Chapter 22: Peak and Valley

**A/N: expecting this to be 30 chapters as a final product and hopefully I'll finish it by mid-June. If I don't I probably won't ever get around to it, which would be tragic. All Yumi POV. Read and Review!**

* * *

What a whirlwind of a week. First the crazy mission, then more tests, then telling my parents, and finally college decisions today. Once they were released I had until the beginning of May to choose. Oxford, Heidelberg, University of Amsterdam, and University of Paris. It was possible I wouldn't get into any of these schools. I could only hope I didn't set the bar too high for myself. I knew most of my class was either into a good school or was into a school that suited their career interests. I was one of the few holdouts.

I'm down at breakfast munching on a piece of toast when my mom comes over and puts a hand on my shoulder.

"Honey, today is a big day!" she exclaims.

"Sure, I guess," I say while chewing.

"Don't talk while eating," she admonishes. "Anyway, I was thinking. How about we have a big dinner to celebrate today? It's a milestone in your life and no matter the result it's still a big achievement!"

"Hmm, alright," I murmur. My parents didn't usually hold big dinners or parties so it was a little strange.

"Great! I'll tell Papa and we'll get cooking this afternoon," she says excitedly. "You can invite your boyfriend too if you want!"

"Uh, Ulrich?" I say nervously. It wasn't that I didn't want him over, it would just get even weirder. "Maybe if he's not busy."

"If he was genuine he would find time," my mom insists. "Besides, I've heard a lot from Hiroki about his talents. He seems like a nice boy."

"I'll try, Mom," I promise. I figured it wouldn't hurt and we could probably ease past the initial awkwardness.

I daydream through morning classes, not particularly caring about school anymore. It's both a relieving and strange feeling. Senioritis is a weird disease. I'm walking to the cafeteria at noon when Hiroki and Johnny stop me.

"Hey sis!" he greets.

"Uh, hey," I say. "Can I help you?"

"Sure can. Johnny and I need help with our geometry homework. Do you think you could show us how to do a few of them?"

"Alright, when?"

"How about right now?"

"I'm going to lunch, Hiroki," I sigh.

"Come on, lay off," Johnny says, nudging Hiroki. "Could you maybe help us today after school?" Even though they're Year 9 now, they still act like they're junior high kids. Johnny, for example, has trouble making eye contact with me, probably due to the fact that he knows I'm dating Ulrich now.

"Sure, I should be free," I say, smiling. "Can you meet me in the library?"

"Fine," Hiroki says, and Johnny waves at me as they walk away. I turn my head and almost run into Ulrich.

"So what do the two little troublemakers want this time?" he asks, noting the two freshmen.

"Just some help with math. They seemed pretty genuine about it," I reply.

"Interesting." He leans in closer to me and smiles, looking for a kiss. I frown and push him back a little.

"Not in public, Ulrich," I remind him. He shrugs and looks around.

"Decisions at four today?" he asks. I nod solemnly and he wraps his arm around me.

"At this point I'll just hope for the best," I say, waving my arms as we walk. "I just need to get in somewhere."

"You'll be fine. You're amazing," he says, and I look at him and laugh a little. He was always overly cheesy with his compliments and his timing wasn't great either.

"Thank God you're still awkward around girls," I tease. "I don't think I'd be entertained if you were smooth all the time."

"Oh, whatever," he says, blushing. We get our lunch-overcooked meatloaf-and sit down with the other Lyoko Warriors.

"Hey, you two," Aelita greets. "Today's a big day, isn't it, Yumi?"

"Hopefully the last big one," I say nonchalantly.

"Ulrich, are you going to want your meatloaf?" Odd quips, looking longingly at his plate. Ulrich takes his knife and cuts it.

"Here, have half. I'll probably be sick if I eat any more than that." Odd gives a yip of excitement and takes the other half.

"We need to retrieve the other pieces of data," Jeremy says suddenly. We all stare at him as he gazes at his laptop. Even Odd drops his fork and doesn't notice.

"Wait, are you insane?" Ulrich says after a while. "We almost got killed last time, and that dude's not messing around."

"It's more important that we materialize Franz Hopper," Jeremy states. "He's the only one who's knowledgeable enough to permanently destroy XANA."

"So our lives don't matter now, huh?" Odd says, a little bit too loudly. Some people stare at our table strangely and Odd quickly quiets down, embarrassed.

"That's not what I meant," Jeremy says lowly. "I'm doing everything I can to protect you. I've programmed your avatars to resist whatever digitization beam he has. It'll give me enough time to break the beam from here and then you can attack him. But I would still avoid getting caught in that. I've also found out who this guy is, if you're interested."

"Who?" Aelita asks.

"I did some research into the base. It wasn't easy but I found who it belongs to." Jeremy types something on his keyboard and pulls up a picture. "Ulrich, Odd, does this guy look familiar?"

"Every day I wake up hoping to see his face," Ulrich remarks sarcastically.

"His name is Professor Brandon Xavier," Jeremy says. "He was part of the Project Carthage team with Hopper. He was of the side that wanted to turn the technology over to the government to use it for world domination. After XANA destroyed Project Carthage, he went into hiding, constructing his current secret base."

"So what's he doing working with XANA?" I wonder.

"Who knows. All that's relevant is that he's our enemy too," Jeremy states.

"Well you can count me out," Ulrich grumbles. "I'm not going back there. I lost both my swords last time."

"Plus we still don't know what our weapons do either," I add. "We know Odd's Laser Arrows only stun but we can't be certain the other weapons have the same effect."

"I can program projectiles to stun when you all are specters," Jeremy says quickly. "But not cutting weapons. So that means Odd and Aelita can avoid killing guards and bringing us bigger headaches."

"Fantastic," I say. "Ulrich and I can stay and guard the Skid, while Odd and Aelita go and retrieve the data."

"Aw, man," Odd moans. "Both of us agree we shouldn't go back there."

"Both of us?" Aelita says, confused.

"Yeah. Me and my stomach," he says, rubbing his belly.

"I want to get it done as soon as possible," Jeremy says. "We don't want to have to deal with this guy more than necessary. He's a threat to us on Lyoko and in the real world." Lunch ends and we all go our separate ways. I twirl my pencil around in class, halfheartedly swim laps in gym, and scribble randomly in my notebook. I glance at the clock in my last class and it's 3:30. 15 more minutes till school's done and half an hour till decisions. My phone suddenly feels heavy in my pocket. The bell rings and I rush out, heading immediately for an empty bench outside. I look around and see everyone else leaving for activities, home, or the dorms. 3:53. I spot Jeremy and Aelita by the vending machines. Aelita notices me and gives a wave, and they come over.

"We're thinking about going soon," Jeremy announces. "I'll call you when we've set everything up."

"Sure, I'll be there," I say absentmindedly.

"Jeremy, it's a big day for her," Aelita reminds him. "What time do decisions come out?"

"Four," I reply. She nods in understanding.

"We'll leave you alone. Come on, let's go," she says, taking Jeremy's hand. She blows a kiss and I smile and wave. 3:58. 120 seconds.

Finally 4 o'clock hits and I open my phone. I pull up my accounts for each of the colleges. Taking a deep breath, I sign in to each account and start going through the pages. Heildelberg, rejected. Not a good start. University of Amsterdam, waitlisted. Okay, sort of confusing. University of Paris, accepted. I go to the last page, the one for Oxford. I scour the page, filled with useless clutter. The decision is at the bottom. Accepted. My eyes light up and I sit back on the bench, holding my forehead.

"How did it go?" a voice says tenderly. I open my eyes and see Ulrich standing over me. He seems to have come out of nowhere.

"Where did you come from?" I ask, a little stunned.

"I was waiting nearby. I didn't want to disturb you. How was it?" he repeats.

"Got into two," I say breathlessly. "University of Paris and Oxford."

"Oxford?!" Ulrich exclaims. "That's great, Yumi!" He gives me a big hug and it knocks the wind out of me before I recover and wrap my arms around him. I gently nudge him and he lets go, sitting next to me.

"I still haven't figured it out yet," I say. "Oxford will be super expensive to attend. I'll need to make a lot of calls and see what these schools can give me."

"Still though, it's a big achievement," Ulrich says proudly.

"Oh, that reminds me," I say. "My parents are making a big dinner for me tonight. My mom was interested in inviting you to come."

"What?" he says, stunned. "But-your parents barely know me…"

"It's my mom," I say, shrugging. "Will you come?" I ask, holding his hands. He turns red and looks down.

"Um, Yumi, I have a game tonight," he says, trailing off. Even though I wasn't super crazy about it I still feel a pang of disappointment.

"It's alright," I say softly. "Maybe some other time you can come over."

"It's not an important game," Ulrich says quickly. "I'll see if I can get out of this one, Dossieux is garbage anyway…"

"No, you need to be devoted to your team," I say, shutting him down. "You're the star and captain. You can't just skip games like that. Besides, didn't you say you need wins now anyway?"

"We're still 8-4," he says. "Not ideal but not the end of the world."

"Stick with your team," I advise. He sighs and stiffens up.

"I feel terrible," he mutters.

"Don't. It's something we can't control." I give him a light kiss on the cheek and he smiles a little.

"I should probably get going. I'll see you around?"

"Probably. Jeremy wants us to carry out this mission."

"Shit, that better not mess with gametime," Ulrich thinks aloud.

"Just ask him to launch a Return to the Past if you miss it."

"Sounds like a plan. I'll…see you." He gets up and looks apologetically at me.

"See you around." I sling my bag over my shoulder and walk off to the gym. I plan on blowing off a little bit of negativity. Just then I get a text and look at my phone. It's Jeremy in the group chat. I scroll up to the previous messages, which are about William not being able to make it because his parents are in town. _Bug in the specter protection program. Should be fixed by tonight._ I think about the implications. That meant I would have to have dinner and then sneak out. Oh well.

After deciding the bags won't help me with my emotions I decide to home early. I didn't know why I was so distressed. Maybe I was paranoid about fate keeping us apart or something. That was the only logical explanation I could come up with for yet another mood swing.

"Where did you get in?" my dad asks as I walk in.

"University of Paris and Oxford," I reply. My dad looks like he's about to start jumping up and down.

"That's great, Yumi!" he exclaims. "This is truly wonderful!"

"Congratulations, Yumi!" my mom calls from the kitchen.

"You forgot to help Johnny and me with math," Hiroki interrupts. It was true.

"Hiroki, that's not as important as this," my dad counters. "We have a few weeks to work out the financial situation but it's fantastic either way."

"Sure," I say simply.

"What's the matter, dear?" he asks.

"Oh, uh, Ulrich can't make dinner. He has a soccer game."

"That's too bad. But he is very talented. You can send some food to him tomorrow," my mom suggests.

"Okay, Mom," I agree. "I'm going to my room." I leave the floor and go to my room, laying on my low bed. I stare at the ceiling, still unable to shake my emotions.

I have a nice dinner with noodles, sushi, and a whole fish. My parents are extremely supportive the whole time and even Hiroki doesn't say a single snobbish thing. The food's extremely delicious and I make sure to thank my parents. After dinner I help Hiroki with his math homework and play some chess, and then retreat to my room once again. My parents ask if I want to do more things to celebrate, but I tell them that I'd rather be alone. My mom frets and I tell her not to worry. I look out the window, waiting for the call/text from Jeremy. Finally it comes and I take a look behind me. The door's closed and the lights are off. I open the window and slip out, running for the factory.

I arrive at the Lab and Jeremy and Aelita are huddled around the computer. Odd's throwing a ball off the walls for Kiwi.

"Somebody once told me, the world is gonna roll me, I ain't the sharpest tool in the shed," Odd sings.

"You can say that again," Jeremy interrupts, prompting laughs from Aelita and me.

"Jeremy, is the program fixed?" I ask.

"It's almost done. Now all we need is Ulrich," he responds.

"I heard the good news. Congrats," Aelita compliments.

"Thanks, Aelita," I reply.

"What happened?" Odd calls.

"Don't worry about it, Odd," Aelita says, eyes twinkling. Odd shrugs and resumes throwing the ball. The elevator door opens and Ulrich steps through, still in soccer uniform.

"I got here as quick as I could," he says. There's still a bit of sweat glistening on his forehead and I wrinkle my nose. Surely he had time to at least wipe his face.

"How was the game?" I ask.

"Fine. We won 5-0. I only scored one of the goals and assisted on three others."

"Spreading the wealth," I remark.

"Program is fixed," Jeremy announces. "We'll fly the Skid back to that world, and I'll transfer Odd and Aelita while Ulrich and Yumi guard the Skid."

"Fine by me, Einstein," Ulrich says.

"I said yep, what a concept, I could use a little fuel myself, and we could all use a little chaaaannnngeeeeee," Odd sings loudly.

"Odd, shut up," Ulrich mutters.

"What's the matter? I don't see anything wrong with it," Aelita says amusedly.

"No more fooling around. This is a serious mission. Let's get going," Jeremy says. We head down to the scanners and Odd and Ulrich get in first. A few moments later Aelita and I step in and join them in the Arena. We get to the Skid hangar and Jeremy transfers us inside. The trip to the world goes relatively smoothly.

"What happened to all the fish?" Odd asks, thinking the same thing as me. "I miss getting to add them to my collective stew."

"Careful what you wish for," Ulrich warns.

"It's probably because XANA is concentrating his resources somewhere else," Jeremy explains. "It's a net zero, since XANA will be stronger somewhere else."

"Jeremy, we've reached the floodgate," Aelita informs.

"Ah, okay. I'll send you the key. Careful though, once you enter this world you should prepare for a fight."

"What do you mean?"

"The creepy-crawlies think they're medieval archers now," Odd says. "The world is surrounded by a gate. It all looks like a castle."

"Obviously this guy Xavier has advanced knowledge to be able to create something like that," I remark.

"He's a nasty dude," Odd says. "I think if I see his face again I'll throw up today's meatloaf."

"Please don't," Ulrich groans. Aelita hacks the lock and we emerge from the Digital Sea. I take in the world. It's just as amazing as Ulrich and Odd described. It's expansive and looks like a maze that you could easily get lost in.

"The Creepers will come soon," Jeremy warns. "Thankfully it shouldn't take me as long to break the second lock this time."

"Hey Aelita, how about letting us have some fun in the Nav Skids?" Odd suggests.

"Only if it's absolutely necessary," Aelita decides. The Creepers emerge and start firing. Aelita turns on the Skid's shield and blocks the lasers, then guns them down with the twin laser guns of the Skid.

"That's not fair!" Odd shouts. "We'll never get to shoot some ourselves as long as you have those!"

"We're not here to fight the Creepers, Odd," Jeremy says exasperatedly. "I've hacked the lock. Get in before the next wave comes and I'll direct you to the docking spot. Aelita unlocks the gate and we fly into the fortress-like world. Aelita docks the Skid at a tower that looks similar to the ones on Lyoko.

"Okay, I'm transferring Odd and Aelita to Switzerland," Jeremy says. "And now, Yumi and Ulrich." I get energized and land outside the Skid. "XANA probably plans on sending you a welcoming committee. Keep your eyes peeled."

"Just how tough are these Warturtles?" I ask.

"Well, it took me a few stabs with both swords to kill one of them," Ulrich replies. "And they shoot these bombs that I can't deflect."

"This place gives me the creeps," I mutter. The giant stone pillars have an intimidating sense and the place just feels eerie.

"Well, we have the easy job, so let's not mess it up," Ulrich says. I look around at the environment. The world is open and I can see the same orange-colored sky as the surface of Lyoko. I hear Jeremy's instructions to Odd and Aelita. It sounds like they're almost ready to infiltrate.

"Yumi!" Ulrich shouts. I spin around and see monsters in the distance. Two Megatanks are quickly rolling towards us, along with some Krabs following behind and…some large monster, about as big as the Megatank, walking slowly and stomping on the ground. I assume those are the Warturtles. There's three of them behind the other monsters.

"Oh boy," I say to myself as I run to join Ulrich. He Triplicates and takes out a Krab almost immediately. I throw my fans and slice through two other Krabs, but there's still two Krabs left along with the other monsters.

"Get the Megatanks! I'll take care of the Krabs!" Ulrich shouts.

"What about the Warturtles?" I yell back. One of them aims its cannon arms and fires. I flip out of the way and almost run into a Megatank laser fired right after. The bomb from the Warturtle explodes near the Skid and rocks it.

"Protect the Skid!" Jeremy says, panicking. Ulrich takes care of the two remaining Krabs but then loses both his clones to two Megatank lasers. I hurl my fans at the Megatanks but they close up just in time. We jump out of the way as the Warturtles fire off another round of bombs.

"Once they open, they're dead," I growl. Sure enough, the Megatanks open up and I summon my fans again. I hit one of the Megatanks and it explodes, but the other fires off another laser and I flip out of the way. Meanwhile, Ulrich is stabbing one of the Warturtles repeatedly with his sabers. It eventually starts to glow and Ulrich jumps off. Two Warturtles and a Megatank left.

"I'll take the turtles," Ulrich says determinedly.

"We're not done yet," I say, shaking my head. I spot Tarantulas coming close to us. XANA really wants to protect this world.

"I'm going for it," Ulrich says.

"It's too risky!" I protest. "Take care of the Megatank and Tarantulas first."

"The Warturtles are the biggest threat," Ulrich replies. He Super Sprints to them and I can't stop him. Half of the Tarantulas split off and start firing at the Skid while the other half aim at us. I throw my fans and kill one of them. Ulrich lands on top of a Warturtle and starts stabbing away at it. The Tarantulas fire and he blocks with his other sword.

"Ulrich, watch out!" I yell. I throw my fans at the Megatank as its charging and destroy it. "There's too many of them!"

"I'm almost there," he grunts. I summon my kusarigama and block laser fire from the Tarantulas. I swing and the scythe connects with one of the Tarantula's eyes. I slam the mace end into the other Warturtle but it doesn't even budge. I withdraw the two ends and prepare to aim at the Tarantulas again but suddenly the Warturtle Ulrich is on goes back into its shell. Ulrich roars and stabs at the holes in the shell.

"Get off, Ulrich!" I scream. The Tarantulas fire again and Ulrich is stunned by the fire, He kneels on the shell and the other Warturtle fires a bomb. It hits him and he recoils back as he's devirtualized. Now it's me, two Warturtles and a bunch of Tarantulas. I quickly throw a fan at the Warturtle as it pokes its head out and it finally explodes from all the blows. The Tarantulas fire at me and I execute some flips, but the fact that I'm not moving very far makes me a sitting duck for the remaining Warturtle. It shoots a bomb and I roll quickly. The smoke still covers me and I can't see.

"The Tarantulas are attacking the Skid again!" Jeremy yells. "Try to get their attention away."

"Thanks for the suggestion," I spit. I'm outnumbered and overmatched. I throw the kusarigama at the Warturtle, wrapping the chain around it. I try pulling but it's too heavy. I instead run towards it and use it to propel my momentum. I let go of the chain and land on top of a Tarantula, slicing it with my fan. I jump backwards as the remaining three now start firing at me again. Everything is locked in place-nothing I could manipulate for telekinesis. I pull the kusarigama from the Warturtle and throw the scythe at a Tarantula, destroying it. Suddenly I see a shadow in front of me and turn and see the Warturtle. The shell is about to fall on me and I run but my leg gets caught. I throw my fans at the Tarantulas but they shoot them out of the air and then shoot me.Y

I appear in the scanner, gasping for air. I head up to the Lab where Ulrich and Jeremy are watching the screen. I give Ulrich a shove and he glares at me.

"What was that for?" he snaps.

"For being reckless and not using your brain," I retort. "You didn't listen and now look at us."

"The Warturtles were the biggest threat," he argues. "Not my fault XANA sent more monsters."

"Yumi's right, Ulrich," Jeremy agrees. "You should've at least surveyed the situation. Now we don't have anybody protecting the Skid and the shields are being drained fast. Luckily Odd and Aelita are almost done extracting the data."

"Great, so everything's my fault now," Ulrich says, throwing his hands in the air. He goes over and sits in the corner with his arms crossed. I roll my eyes and take a look at the screen.

"Jeremy, how much longer is this gonna take?" Odd shouts. "I can't hold off Frankenstein here much longer. He's got some kind of armor."

"It's almost done, Odd," Jeremy replies. "Hang in there a little longer. We have to get out quickly too, the Skid is under attack."

"It's done, Jeremy," Aelita announces.

"Great, I'll bring you guys back. Oh no!" he says suddenly.

"What?" I ask, confused.

"The Skid's lost all of its shields!" Jeremy exclaims. "There's nothing protecting it from lasers now." He types furiously and I see Odd and Aelita reappear on the Skid in the screen.

"Aelita, wake up!" Jeremy shouts. "Get out of there immediately!"

"Huh? Aah!" Aelita screams. We watch the Skid disembark and take off with the Tarantulas still firing at it. The Warturtle shoots two bombs and one of them hits the bottom of the Skid. A Nav Skid falls from its dock and lands on the ground below.

"No!" Jeremy says. "Odd, Odd can you hear me?"

"I'm fine, Jeremy," he replies. "But I guess we won't be taking William on any Skid missions anymore."

"This is a disaster," Jeremy says, running his hands through his hair. They get back to Lyoko and Jeremy devirtualizes them.

"Well, what an adventure," Odd says as they come back up. "That Xavier is some character. He likes making his own jokes but can't take one!"

"We have the data and that's all that matters," Jeremy says.

"Yes, but we lost a Nav Skid," Aelita says worriedly.

"If all goes right we won't need the Skid for much longer," Jeremy replies.

"What's he doing?" Odd asks, jerking his thumb towards Ulrich in the corner.

"Don't worry about it," I say coldly.

"Just don't make the same mistakes next time," Jeremy calls.

"Shut up. How about you go and fight next time?" Ulrich replies bitterly. He gets up and storms to the elevator, leaving before us.

"What happened on the virtual world?" Aelita asks.

"Nothing," I grumble. We leave the factory while Jeremy stays to analyze the data. I walk through the park with Odd and Aelita.

"You should tell us what happened," Odd says. "Otherwise I'm gonna have to deal with sulking Ulrich for at least a few days in the dark."

"XANA sent a brigade of monsters, he thought he could be the hero and take out the Warturtles, but while he was doing that he was shot by the other monsters," I explain quickly.

"You guys might be being a little too harsh to him," Aelita says. "I'm not sure all four of us would've gotten out of that mess easily."

"Maybe. But he still rushed in without thinking."

"Everyone makes mistakes. We shouldn't make it too hard on him," Aelita says. "And now he probably thinks it's his fault we lost a Nav Skid too."

"Yeah, you're right," I sigh. "I just hope it blows over soon enough."

"I'm off to see the Grump. Ciao, guys," Odd says, heading towards the dorm. Aelita looks at me.

"I'd better get going too. Good night, Yumi."

"Good night, Aelita." We go our separate ways and I sigh at the once-promising day turned upside-down.


	23. Chapter 23: The Rules Have Changed

**It's about to go down for real. Hold on tight. Read and Review!**

* * *

I'm laying against the wall, staring straight ahead into space. Odd's snoring and Kiwi's curled up on the floor. I can feel my heart still beating fast. Odd had tried not to talk to me and tiptoe around me, literally and figuratively. I was still awake at 12:26 AM. My phone starts ringing and I snatch it off the table, looking over the screen. **Call from: Yumi Ishiyama.**

"What does she want now?" I mutter to myself. After a few rings I decide to pick it up.

"Ulrich?" a voice says unsurely on the other end.

"Back to give me more grief?" I snap.

"No. I…wanted to apologize."

"About what?" I say. "I know I was being stupid, and you all let me have it. That's that."

"I know, but I still feel like I should've treated you better. That group of monsters was a tall order for us and you did your best."

"Whatever. I just _loved_ your comments on top of Jeremy's usual 'I-don't-fight-but-I-criticize-you-anyway' talk."

"You should grow up a bit," she snaps. "You can't take _any_ kind of criticism at all. We're just telling you the truth. Yes, we were a bit harsh, but the message is still the same."

"Me? Grow up? You should listen to yourself! You can't even decide what you want to tell me."

"The only reason for that is because there are different ways to reach someone immature like you."

"Okay, fantastic. I hope you sleep well," I drawl, and hang up. I throw my phone down on the bed and it bounces up before landing on the floor. I sigh and bury myself under the sheets.

Fast forward a week and it's chilly in April. I'd gotten over it after a few days and I could sense Yumi had too but we still avoided conversation for some reason. It wasn't as bad as that dark period at the beginning of this year but I still sighed internally at both my stupidity and her stubbornness. At breakfast I sit down with the others and look around. Yumi hasn't come yet but I'm sure that when she does she'll sit down next to Aelita and avoid eye contact with me.

"No wonder Xavier had his supercomputer on maximum security," Jeremy drones on. "Not only did I find more data for Hopper's rematerialization, I also found the last location of the remaining data and some files on how to destroy XANA."

"You did?" Odd exclaims. "That's great!"

"Yep. The multi-agent system is done and these files tell me how to manipulate the Core's energy to make it accessible to XANA. There's also some preliminary research on trapping programs similar to the one I'm working on. There was also a secret file that I haven't gotten access to yet but I'm sure I'll be able to get it in time."

"Are you sure this will work, Jeremy?" Aelita asks. "I think it's risky still. XANA's managed to outsmart us before. If he's able to absorb enough of the Core's energy he could break free from the trap."

"I'm sure it'll work," he says confidently. "Besides, once we get your dad back he'll be able to work out the kinks in the plan." Aelita nods and takes a bite of a croissant.

"Hey guys," Yumi greets as she comes over to our table. She sits down across from me. I make eye contact with her and we hold each other's gazes for a minute before she looks away uncertainly. I look down at my plate and poke some food around a little.

"You better finish this program fast, Einstein," Odd says, chewing on food. "No pressure. But we've got exams soon and then a whole summer where we won't be able to fight XANA."

"Since when did you care about exams?" I snort.

"Never," he jokes. "But I've decided I want to go to film school. So I have to raise my grades if I wanna go somewhere good."

"That's good that you've decided," Aelita says. "The rest of us are still a bit in the dark."

"Not me," Jeremy pipes up. "I couldn't imagine not doing computer science and quantum physics."

"You do you, Einstein," Odd chimes in. The bell rings and we head off to class. I sit down in the back of the classroom in math and take some notes, most of which end up being doodles.

"How are you and Yumi doing?" Odd whispers in the middle of class.

"Huh?" I say, looking up.

"You two don't seem to talk that often. Is everything chill or not?"

"I couldn't tell ya," I say, shrugging.

"You two confuse me so much," he says, shaking his head. "Why don't you just air it out and move on?"

"Because that'd be too logical. And easy," I chuckle bitterly. I do some more equations and then my phone starts buzzing. I raise my hand to go to the bathroom.

"Yes, Stern?" the teacher asks.

"May I use the bathroom, ma'am?" I ask.

"You didn't go beforehand like a mature high school student would?" she asks, raising an eyebrow. I sigh.

"It's not like it's a regular occurrence. Please, I really need to go."

"Alright. But be back and make it snappy." I head out and manage to pick up on the last ring.

"Ulrich, activated tower. Grab Odd and head for the factory," Jeremy says simply, and hangs up. I exhale loudly and glance back in the door window. I motion to Odd and he nods. He raises his hand and I hear a muffled argument through the door. After a while he sits down and shakes his head. He puts his phone under the table and texts me, **Not letting me go. I'll try and make it after class.** I hold up a thumbs up so he can see and sprint off towards the factory. So far, no specters, possessed people, or malevolent electrical objects as I run through the park. Nothing in the sewers either. I make it to the Lab and everyone's already there.

"Where's Odd?" Jeremy asks.

"Held up in math class. He'll join us after class," I reply. Jeremy stares at the screen for a while.

"Something wrong, Einstein?" Yumi inquires.

"None of you have seen anything strange, right?" Jeremy asks distantly. We all shake our heads. "All the software seems to be working fine too. I can't figure out what the attack is."

"Maybe it's a trap and XANA's attempting to devirtualize us on Lyoko again by disabling the rematerialization," Aelita suggests.

"It can't be that. One, XANA never makes the same mistake twice, and two, all the materialization software is running correctly. I double and triple checked."

"So we should go to Lyoko and check out what's going on," William concludes.

"That seems like the best option. But be careful," Jeremy warns. We head down to the scanners and I step in along with William first. We materialize in the desert sector and a moment later the ladies land.

"Here come your vehicles," Jeremy says. The Overwing and Overbike materialize in front of us.

"Mind if I get a ride?" William asks.

"You're quitting smoking?"

"It's a bad habit, you know." I shrug and he climbs on the bike behind me.

"The activated tower is due southwest of your location. I'm sending you all the coordinates." The coordinates pop up on the Overbike and I nod over in the direction of the tower. We speed off towards the edge of the sector. The tower is situated on a peninsula, surrounded by nearby pieces of land.

"Watch out," Jeremy interrupts. "I'm picking up activity on the radar."

"We see it," Yumi replies. "Two Warturtles and some Bloks."

"You take the lead," I mutter. She glances at me apologetically.

"If you want to you can."

"No, I'm fine. Go ahead." She zooms towards them and unfolds a fan in preparation.

"Mind letting me off here?" William asks. I nod and stop for a moment. He gets off and Supersmokes the rest of the way. I see Aelita throwing an Energy Field at one of the Warturtles. It hits its head and the monster explodes immediately. I hang back, strolling up to the scene while the others fight. Yumi's fighting the Bloks and William goes after the other Warturtle.

"Ulrich, what are you doing?" Jeremy says snippily.

"Looks like they're all good. Besides, I'd probably mess something up anyway," I drawl. Yumi looks at me out of the corner of her eye and shakes her head.

"Okay Jeremy, we're all cleaned up," Aelita announces.

"Great. Go ahead and deactivate the tower." She walks into the tower and I look around at the desert.

"You know, you really shouldn't get hung up on stuff that happened a week ago," Yumi scolds.

"Leave me alone," I say sullenly. She sighs.

"It's for your own good."

"Let me figure out what I want for myself." Suddenly Aelita gets thrown out of the tower and lands next to us.

"Aelita, what's going on?" William asks, shocked.

"He's in the tower," she says weakly. We look towards the tower and an avatar emerges. He has a black mask over his face and is dressed in a sleek black jumpsuit with red stripes. A whip hangs from his waist and he's carrying a double-edged staff as well.

"Ah, my little avatar friends," he cackles. "How good it is to be in your home court. I must say, Hopper's work is mightily impressive."

"What are you doing here, Xavier?" I growl.

"How did you get here?" Yumi asks in shock.

"Surely you would have figured it out by now," he says, sounding disappointed.

"XANA activated a tower to facilitate his arrival here," Jeremy realizes.

"At least Belpois understands. That's why he's in charge."

"You won't last long," William says determinedly.

"Are you so sure, Dunbar?" he questions. "Poor Aelita happened to be walking in just at the moment I was finishing my work. Soon you meddlesome avatars won't be in the way of our work anymore."

"He's deactivated the materialization program," Jeremy warns. "Try to hold him off while I fix it and do not get devirtualized under any circumstances."

"Thanks, Captain Obvious," I mutter.

"You don't understand, Professor," Aelita says, getting up. "XANA is using you. He's learned how to manipulate emotions. As soon as you help him carry out his plan he'll get rid of you."

"I understand perfectly well, little Aelita," he hisses. "You haven't even begun to realize the power that I will soon hold in my hands."

"You're a fool," Aelita replies. He snarls and suddenly uncurls his whip and snaps it at her. She yelps and throws up a shield, deflecting the blow.

"I'm off!" William yells, and his sword appears in his hand. He's gotten strong enough to hold it with one hand now. He swings at Xavier and Xavier extends his staff to block it. William combines his spiked gauntlet and his sword to deflect the blows, but it's no use as he pushes near us.

"William, dodge!" I yell. He turns into Super Smoke as I throw shurikens at Xavier. He deflects them with his staff and I make them explode, but he flips out of the way and they hit William.

"William, you just lost 30 life points," Jeremy says nervously.

"Today's just not your day, is it, Stern?" Xavier laughs. I narrow my eyes.

"Shut the fuck up." I charge towards him with my swords and he snaps his whip. It hooks around one of my swords and I get pulled towards him, but I pull the sword back and it cuts through his whip. He lets out a "humph" as he reels it back in.

"More monsters!" Yumi calls. I turn around and see some Krabs headed our way.

"Aelita, take cover!" Jeremy orders. She nods and heads towards the Krabs, crouching behind some sand towers.

"Triangulate!" I yell. I quickly surround Xavier with my three clones.

"You think your little mind-tricks will stop me?" he sneers. He plunges his staff into the ground and I feel a stabbing pain as I stop running and fall. My clones have disappeared as well.

"Ulrich, you just lost 40 life points," Jeremy says nervously.

"Have you fixed the program yet?" Yumi says impatiently. "We're not holding out too well." She throws both her fans at Xavier and he dodges out of the way.

"He's put a bunch of firewalls on the access," Jeremy stutters. "It'll take me a while to break them all down."

"Fantastic," I mutter. I hop up and make another charge. Out of the corner of my eye I see William and Aelita fighting the Krabs. I clash with Xavier's staff and we exchange blows, parrying the other's each time. "Where'd you learn to fight?" I mutter sarcastically.

"Oh, it doesn't matter," he laughs. "I can assure you that whatever you do will be in futility. My programming skills far exceed Belpois' and Hopper's."

"The problem with that is you're too predictable," I retort, and do a leg sweep. He falls and I slash with my sword but it bounces off his armor. "What?!" I yell.

"I am indestructible," he cackles. "With XANA's added power, I alone decide when I leave the virtual world." He knocks me down to the ground but is then pushed back by a spinning fan.

"Not so fast," Yumi says.

"I beg to differ," Xavier replies, and suddenly opens his palm. A laser comes out of it and Yumi deflects it with her fan.

"You're not very original, are you?" I remark. I leap at him again and we engage in a swordfight.

"Aelita, you have to get back into the activated tower in order to shut down the program," Jeremy says.

"No problem, we're almost done with the Krabs," Aelita replies. I see William slice through one out of the corner of my eye and she starts making a run for the tower. Xavier runs away from Yumi and I and starts heading for Aelita.

"Try to hold him off," Jeremy pleads.

"Will do," William grunts. He Supersmokes in front of Xavier and blocks his path.

"You won't stop me," he says coldly.

"Careful, William, you've only got 20 life points left and the program isn't fixed yet," Jeremy warns. We surround him and he frowns, bringing both weapons out for the fight.

* * *

I move around various screens on the tower interface, doing what Jeremy instructs.

"Okay, as soon as you type these codes in it should grant me access to the last protection of whatever program Xavier's installed in the tower."

"Jeremy, what about Xavier himself? It seems like none of our weapons can devirtualize him."

"I don't know what he wants with us and I haven't figured out what to do either."

"Jeremy, he could try installing more programs in the towers. It would mess us up further!"

"Hang on, I'll try to see how XANA's letting him access Lyoko. Meanwhile, you keep working on the code." I nod and keep up the work. The tower's still activated and there doesn't seem to be a way to deactivate it. Maybe it's the combined forces of Xavier and XANA that prevents me from doing it.

The tower violently rocks and I yelp as I fall down. I get up and look around.

"Jeremy? What's going on outside the tower?" I ask nervously.

"It appears that Ulrich's just been thrown against the side. We need to work fast, they're all down to their last life points."

"Okay, there," I say, tapping a button to finish the work. The red borders of the interface suddenly disappear.

"Great, Aelita! Now I can get access to the programs he implanted and fix this once and for all."

"What about Xavier's connection to Lyoko?"

"It appears that he put all his eggs in one basket. It shouldn't take me long now to hack it and send him back where he came from. You should go rejoin the others outside and hold him off." I float down to the lower level of the tower when he suddenly emerges with a vicious expression on his face.

"You're too late," I say boldly. "Jeremy is hacking the program as we speak."

"Don't forget the program is still in place. And as long as it is, I can kill you." He lunges towards me and I shield, but his staff causes cracks in my shield.

"Aelita! Whatever you do, stay in the tower. If you leave he'll be able to access the interface and stop me!"

"Easier said than done," I reply wearily. "If I fall off this tiny platform I'll be transferred to another sector!" He catches me with his whip and it stings like crazy.

"30 life points left, Aelita!" Jeremy alerts. I throw some Energy Fields and he blocks them with his staff. He opens his palm and fires lasers and I catch them with my Energy Fields, although it pushes me to the edge of the platform. He rushes in for a strike and I activate my shield again.

"Once you're gone, your friends will be next," he hisses.

"Oh, I don't think so," I grit. I push with all my might and the force field pushes him back out of the tower. I run outside and he's already gotten up.

"It's done!" Jeremy announces. "I'm uploading the fixed rematerialization program now."

"Not…yet…" Xavier hisses. He lunges towards me again and I jump out of the way, landing near Yumi. Ulrich throws another shuriken and it explodes near him, knocking him down again.

"Energy Field!" I shout, throwing another pink ball at him. He rolls out of the way and towards Yumi. "Yumi, watch out!" I scream. She throws the scythe of the kusarigama at him but he bats it away with his staff and slashes her across the torso.

"No!" we all scream simultaneously. Yumi devirtualizes and he turns to us.

"Jeremy, did the program upload in time?" I ask breathlessly.

"It should have right as the hit happened. It was a close call, I'll get down to the scanners immediately. In the meantime, say goodbye to Xavier."

"No!" he roars in frustration. The red halo around the tower disappears and a red light suddenly fills him. He slowly disintegrates into shadow and blows away like a wisp.

"Jeremy, devirtualize us immediately," Ulrich says, total fear in his eyes.

"The scanner with Yumi still hasn't opened. I'll devirtualize two of you and then the last one." Ulrich and I get devirtualized first and reappear in the scanners.

"So, sounds like I missed a lot," Odd says solemnly. He's waiting by the scanner that hasn't opened its door yet. A moment later William reappears and Jeremy comes down from the ladder. I hold his hand tightly as we stare at the scanner. Finally it opens and Yumi's laying on the floor, gasping.

"Oh, Yumi," Ulrich says, and rushes over to hold her as she almost falls over.

"That was a close call," William says. "I'm glad you got it in time, Einstein."

"I couldn't have done it without all of you," he replies, and lets go of my hand to get closer to Yumi. Ulrich breaks free from their embrace and smiles.

"Glad to have you back," he says, smiling for what seems like the first time in a week.

"I'm just glad I'm here in one piece," she replies. I look over Yumi and suddenly my face pales.

"Y-Yumi…" I croak.

"Hm?" she says softly, still a bit shaken up.

"Look…at…at your waist," I say shakily. Everyone looks down near her navel and gasps. Yumi looks like she's about to faint. Running along her abdomen, in the exact place where Xavier slashed her, is a thin, long, red scar.

* * *

 **So I'll be gone for a week and leave you guys with this cliffhanger ;) Sorry in advance. But I've been uploading every few days, probably spoiling the people who have been following this fic, so it's time for one of those moments, unfortunately. No flames pls, lol.**


	24. Chapter 24: Aftermath

**Alright, back from the dead. Prepare for a storm of chapters the next few days. Ulrich then Odd POV.**

* * *

I don't see Yumi the rest of the day. I try calling and texting her and get no responses as the panic slowly builds in my head. In the afternoon I go to her house to check up on her. I ring the doorbell and shuffle my feet as I wait for a response. Hiroki opens up and looks at me.

"Is Yumi here?" I ask nervously.

"Hang on, I'll go check," he says and runs down the hallway and up the stairs. Strange. Usually he just calls for her. After a little bit he runs back to the door. "Yumi says she's not ready to see you right now and she'll talk to you later," he reports. I nod and thank him, and leave.

I shuffle some pieces of Sheperd's Pie around my plate at dinner, not feeling hungry at all. From the looks of it, neither is the rest of our group. Even Odd looks sick with half a pie left on his plate.

"Jeremy, what could have happened there?" Aelita asks worriedly.

"It must have been a slight error. If Yumi had gotten devirtualized even a tenth of a second later she would have been completely fine. In any case we're lucky the rematerialization data uploaded in time. I checked the log and the program was 99.8% fixed when the devirtualization occurred."

"Yeah, and now she's stuck with a permanent reminder of XANA," I say bitterly.

"That's all the more reason to end this quickly," Jeremy replies. "I've found the last supercomputer with Hopper's data. Once we obtain it I'll be able to rematerialize him as an avatar in a Way Tower, and from there enter Code Earth to bring him here."

"And what about our good friend with a million weapons?" Odd asks. "He might come back to Lyoko for us. And he's got some wicked programming skills too."

"Nothing we can do about him for the time being. I'll try to outwit him from the Lab, but we never know what he might try to do. And if XANA is destroyed, he won't have anything left to fight for." Just then, William comes to our table and sits down.

"Have any of you seen Yumi?" he inquires. "I haven't seen her at all after this morning."

"She's locked herself away," I reply quietly. "I can't reach her at all." William nods and takes a small bite of his pie.

"She must be going through so much right now," Aelita says. "That poor girl."

"I'll try to see if there's any way I can reverse the damage through the scanners," Jeremy promises. I know he means well but his words ring hollow in the somber air. I dump the rest of my dinner and retreat to my room. Odd follows me and we sit down across from each other on our beds.

"We'll get through this, good buddy," Odd encourages. "She'll be fine."

"I sure hope so," I answer. I sigh loudly and punch a pillow. "Have you tried contacting her?"

"I texted her just some comforting messages," Odd says. "She didn't respond to them."

"I guess we'll try again tomorrow," I say. The rest of the night I absentmindedly play some video games with Odd before I get tired of them and flop back over onto my own bed, tossing and turning before I can finally sleep.

I wake up the next morning to a ringing. Thankfully it's Sunday so no classes. I assume it's my alarm but I raise my head up and find that it's my phone. I quickly pick up and answer.

"Hello?" I say groggily.

"Ulrich," a voice says. I recognize it as Jeremy. "Yumi contacted me just now. She wants to meet us all in my room. Grab Odd and come quickly."

"We're on it," I promise, and hang up. I shake Odd vigorously and he bats an eye open.

"Cocoa Puffs and-oh, high score Galactic Fighters 8?" he mumbles. "Oh, Ulrich. What's up?"

"Yumi wants to meet. Get dressed and let's go," I say. Odd hops out of bed and we get dressed and quickly head over to Jeremy's room. We're the first ones there. A few moments William arrives and after that, Aelita. Finally the door opens and Yumi shows up.

She's wearing a big, baggy black T-shirt and sweatpants. I feel like this is the first time she's ever covered her midsection up. She looks like she hasn't gotten a lot of sleep either.

"Hi everyone," she says softly.

"Yumi, do you feel better?" Aelita asks, concerned.

"I'm fine, Aelita, thanks," she addresses. "I did some thinking yesterday about what happened and I'm ready to talk about it."

"Well, we're all ears," William says. "And anything we can do to make you feel better, we will."

"Thanks, William," she replies. She tries to put on her best positive face but I can tell something's still bothering her. "I just want to thank all of you. It's been years of ups and downs and you guys have been there for me all the way," she starts. "But what happened yesterday did more than just physically scar me. It reminded me that this isn't a game. It never has been. It's life or death. Yesterday was a painful reminder of that, and it hurt me in more ways than you think. And that's why I…I don't think I can go on anymore. I'm going to leave this team."

Stunned silence falls across the room. I myself am completely paralyzed. Yumi? Leaving? I must be dreaming. We'd survived so much together and now she's throwing it all away?

"Uh, Yumi, please," Jeremy stutters. "We know it was hard on you. But I'm working on a way to reverse the damage on your scar. And we need you to help fight on Lyoko!" _At least I didn't have to break the silence,_ I think.

"It's not about that, Jeremy," she says, shaking her head. "I can live with the scar. What I can't live with is this life of danger. Every time we go in and there's a possibility of death. We're high school kids with our lives ahead of us. This isn't supposed to be our fight."

"But it is!" William exclaims. "Nobody else is going to fight. It's our responsibility to do good for the world! Besides, we only have a month and a half left. If we don't finish it after this year it'll only be Odd, Ulrich and Aelita left to fight!"

"This is my personal decision," Yumi says softly. "I understand how you feel, but you've barely fought compared to the rest of us. It's okay if you don't agree with me, just understand how I feel as well." _Understand how she feels? Even I'm lost here,_ I think bitterly.

"Yumi, we need you," Aelita pleads. "Jeremy's almost done with the final program as well as the program to bring my father back. Once that's done we'll be able to seal the deal on XANA for good. There won't be many more missions for us."

"You guys have gotten strong," Yumi replies. "You don't need my help to wrap up XANA. I just want you all to know that I'm grateful for everything you've done for me, but I personally can't continue on any longer."

"We really appreciate you, Yumi," Odd says. "Not just as a warrior, but as a friend. I don't think any of us could take it if you left us."

"I still would like to be friends with all of you," Yumi says. "But the reality is we don't have much time left together. I'll still keep in touch but I don't think it's feasible for us to stay together when your lives are all pre-occupied with XANA. I wish there was another way but until you shut down XANA I don't think there is."

"Well, if you change your mind, let us know," Jeremy says sadly. I look around and everyone else seems to be resigned to the same conclusion. Yumi nods.

"Thank you all for understanding," she says, and glances at me for a moment as if expecting me to say something. I look down, still unsure how I feel. Yumi leaves the room and we all stare at each other.

"I guess you're a full-time Lyoko Warrior now, Will," Odd says. "Your own Nav Skid and Yumi's place."

"I'd much rather we had the whole group," he replies.

"Odd's right," Jeremy adds. "From now on, you'll have to be on alert at all times. Granted, you already were essentially full-time, but this just adds to it."

"Ulrich, what does this mean for you two?" Aelita asks gently. "She didn't address you specifically."

"I don't know," I mutter. "But I'm going to find out." I jump up and walk out the door. _Why couldn't you think of anything to say earlier, stupid?_ I reprimand. But it didn't matter. At least we'd get to talk in private now. I run out of the dorms and into the Quad. I spot Yumi walking near the park and quickly sprint over to her. "Yumi!" I call. She turns around and waits for me. I finally catch up to her, panting a little bit.

"So what does this mean for us?" I ask.

"I don't know," she says simply.

"What do you mean, you don't know?" I say exasperatedly. "You just walked out on all of us. What does this mean for us?"

"I didn't 'walk out' on you guys," she says. "And anyway, we were going to have to figure this situation out anyway. I'm leaving this school in a month and a half, if you forgot."

"Oh, I remember. So what do you think we should do?"

"We can still keep seeing each other. It'll just have to be less often. As for college, I don't know yet," she admits.

"Fantastic," I drawl. "And have you thought about what you've done to not just me, but our group?"

"I already explained it," she sighs. "I didn't expect you to understand immediately. Which is sad, when you think about it."

"I don't think I'll ever understand," I reply. "How could you do this to us?"

"I lined out my reasons pretty clearly," she retorts. "Maybe if you took the time to go through them and think about how I feel, then you'd understand. But you've never understood how I feel about anything."

"You don't make it easy on me," I fire back. "Or anyone, for that matter. Maybe if you opened up we'd understand."

"We?" she snorts. "The others understand perfectly. I laid all my emotions out there just now. It's _you_ who doesn't understand."

"I understand perfectly," I say. "You're doing this for your own good. You're selfish, putting yourself above the world."

"Me? Selfish?!" she exclaims. "You should really hear yourself talk! And so what if I value my own life? Don't be a hypocrite, Ulrich. Since when have you thought about the fate of the world whenever you travel to Lyoko? All you think about is how many monsters you've killed, since to you it's still just a game!"

"It is not!" I say indignantly, although she struck a nerve there. "The fact is, you're the one who's not helping us on Lyoko anymore."

"You're so fucking stubborn," she says, shaking her head. "You know what the biggest thing I hate about you is? It's always about you, except for when it's convenient not to be. You still can't tell me how I feel about anything after years of friendship, and you always have to apologize for the stupid stuff that comes out of your mouth when you're not thinking."

"Maybe if you would try to talk to other people for once you'd think differently!" I yell. "You shut out everyone who wants to help you. You always think that you make the right decision for yourself, and you don't fucking bother to ask anyone else about it before committing to it!" A look of anger flashes across her eyes and we stare at each other.

"Let's not see each other anymore," she says suddenly, still glaring at me.

"What?" I say, dazed.

"It's better that we don't see each other anymore," she repeats. "Since obviously we can't resolve our differences, we should put each other out of our pain."

"And why do you think that's such a good idea, huh?!" I say angrily.

"Maybe we're just not meant for each other," she says icily. "Our whole relationship has been full of these explosions. I'm tired of it. I don't want to see you anymore."

"Wha-what?!" I stammer, shaking with rage.

"You heard me. Goodbye, Ulrich." She turns away and leaves for the path back to the city. I stand there, frozen. I can't think or move or do anything.

* * *

Ulrich falls into a pretty terrible funk the next few weeks. We were all taking Yumi's decision hard, but he was having it the worst. They had broken up and even though it'd been a big fight I could tell he still cared about her a lot. He was also getting angry calls from his dad more often about grades and just not enjoying life in general.

"Ulrich, coming to breakfast?" I call. He's still huddled up under the sheets and I can't see his face.

"Later," he mumbles. I sigh. Every day is like this now. I head down and join the others at the breakfast table. I spot Yumi out of the corner of my eye sitting alone, doing homework.

"Ulrich's still not coming down," I say.

"I'm really worried about him," Aelita says. "He's been taking everything hard. His grades have been falling too."

"Not just that," William interjects. He has a copy of the Kadic News in his hands. "Check this out. 'Kadic Wizards fall to 9-6 on the season, on the verge of missing the playoffs'," he reads. "And there's some news about how Ulrich has been playing pretty terrible lately."

"All this will be solved once we defeat XANA," Jeremy says confidently. "We need to put everything aside and focus on our goal. I'm going to send you to the last supercomputer soon and from there on, everything should fall in place like dominoes."

"Hopefully Ulrich will snap out of it by then," I mumble. "I've never seen it this bad." We hear some commotion on the other side of the cafeteria and I turn around. It's Ulrich and he's talking to Milly and Tamiya. _Uh oh. Why am I not surprised?_ I think nervously.

"Who gave you permission to print this bullshit?!" he yells, waving a copy of the Kadic News around. "'Star striker Stern to blame for recent team struggles'?"

"We're sorry, Ulrich," Milly stammers. "We'll change the headline immediately."

"Listen, girls," he hisses. "I am the best fucking player on our team. And you better know that from now on." He tears the paper to shreds and scatters it across the floor.

"Stern!" Jim roars. "To the principal's office, immediately!" Ulrich sighs and follows him out the cafeteria as the students start murmuring and whispering about the incident.

"We'd better get him some help or talk to him," Aelita says sadly. I nod in agreement.

"Right after school today."

After school I go and meet Aelita outside her classroom.

"Hey Odd," she says. "Do you need anything?"

"I was thinking we could go talk to Ulrich," I say. "And since you're really good with people you could help me with it."

"I'm not that great," she says humbly. "But I'll come along."

"Great!" I exclaim. "Let's go." We head to my room and find Ulrich already sitting on his bed inside.

"Hey," I say. He looks up and grunts. "How'd it go?"

"Eight hours of detention," he mumbles. "Starting tomorrow, two hours every day."

"Not the end of the world," I say positively.

"I guess."

"Ulrich, we're really worried about you," Aelita says gently. "You haven't been yourself. Do you want to talk about it?"

"Not really," he mutters, and lays down.

"Come on, good buddy, you need to let it out," I plead. "Is there anything we can do?"

"Don't you dare say, 'leave me alone'," Aelita remarks.

"You know me too well," Ulrich chuckles softly.

"How about we go out for an ice cream?" I suggest. "That ought to cheer you up."

"Sure, why not," he says, shrugging. We leave our room and the three of us walk into town and head for my favorite place, the parlor on the corner of the street that also houses the bowling alley. I order a big three scoop cone with sprinkles and Aelita gets a strawberry sundae. Ulrich gets a plain bowl of vanilla ice cream and we sit down at a table with an umbrella.

"Come on, Ulrich, at least grab some syrup and jazz it up a little," I tease.

"Eh, I'm good," he says, eating small scoops.

"Ulrich, will you tell us how you feel now?" Aelita asks.

"I'm fine," he insists. "I'll be better in the next few days."

"Jeremy says we're going to launch another mission soon," Aelita comments. "So we're hoping you'll be ready when the time comes."

"Plus you should really get out more," I add. "It's not good to stay in our room all day."

"I guess," he mumbles. I take a few more licks of my cone.

"Listen, Ulrich. We just need you a few more times. You fight amazing and you're brave. And then, when Einstein works his magic, XANA will be gone, Yumi will join us again, and we'll all live happily ever after!" I ramble.

"I wish it was that easy," he says.

"Everything will work out just fine," Aelita says, patting him on the back. "When the time comes, you two can come back together and talk about it. It's only temporary."

"Thanks, but you guys don't understand," he says. "It's a lot more complicated than that. But I appreciate it anyway." We finish up our ice cream and start walking back.

"I think I'm gonna go catch up on homework and stuff, see you guys," Ulrich says, waving. We wave and he leaves before us.

"Well, what a party pooper," I remark. "Wanna go do some more fun stuff in town?"

"Maybe just for a little bit," Aelita replies. "I really hope he's feeling better."

"Yeah, this isn't like one of his usual sulking fits," I agree. "It's worse. But he seemed like he was a little bit better."

"You know he takes these things hard," Aelita says. "I think they really hurt each other with the big fight they had. I don't know how Yumi's feeling but I'm guessing it's not too great either."

"Yeah, well, try spending years and years of living with him," I remark. "You think you get to know him well and then he does something weird again."

"Make sure to look out for him, Odd," Aelita tells me.

"No worries Princess! I'll do my best!" I promise. She smiles.

"Thank you, Odd." We spend another hour walking through town and window shopping, and then head back to Kadic. Ulrich was beginning to perk up a little after two weeks of darkness, but I couldn't help but still worry for that kid. You could never really tell what he was thinking.

* * *

 **Ooh DX It'll only get crazier from here. Read and Review!**


	25. Chapter 25: The Cloud of Lies

**Somehow got another chapter done quickly. Inspired by Episode 15 of CLE but with my own twists, and it's not going to end soon. Ulrich/Aelita POV, Read and Review!**

* * *

"I'm thirsty for a Coke, you?"

"I think I'm okay," I reply, but I follow the Magnificent to the vending machine anyway. He inserts a coin and the machine rumbles but doesn't spit out a can.

"Oh, come on!" Odd yells, kicking the machine. I lean against the wall, my hands in my pockets.

"Maybe you shouldn't buy from something that's stolen from you so many times," I say coolly.

"Goddammit!" Odd whines. "That was my last coin too! Now I have to wait for my allowance."

"Oh well, guess you'll have to stick to water," I respond. We hear some commotion outside and duck our heads out of the shelter. It turns out to be nothing more than another couple of people getting mad at Milly and Tamiya. My detention had finally been fully served and just in time for the playoffs in another week. We'd barely made it, at 10-6, after I finally scored a goal for the first time in weeks to win it 1-0 for us.

"What do you wanna do tonight, good buddy?" Odd asks. "We could go skating, you could help me with my film, go into town…"

"Not up for any of it," I say, shrugging. "Thanks for the offer though."

"At least you don't act like a dead version of Frankenstein anymore," Odd says. "Sheesh, that was not fun to deal with."

"Whatever you want to think, Odd," I say. "I really don't care."

"Hey, hey, just trying to lighten the mood," he says, holding his hands up.

"Excuse me," a voice says behind me. I turn around and it's…Yumi. I shuffle out of the way as she coldly walks by to the vending machine. Odd stops fooling around and stares at her. The light scent of cherry blossom fills my nostrils and I clench my fists at the painful reminder. She inserts a coin in the coffee machine and a cup drops down, quickly filling with the brown liquid. She walks past me, not turning her head to even address me. _Who gets coffee in the afternoon anyway?_ I think with contempt. She's still into her new thing of wearing plain T-shirts that still expose some of her collar yet completely cover her midsection. I think I hear a "humph" escape her lips as she walks out and leaves.

"Well, that was some encounter," Odd mumbles. "At least I've been through more awkward ones. It really does lessen the awkwardness of something like this, you know." I stare down at my fists, still trembling with bitterness. I punch the vending machine hard and it hurts my knuckles but I don't feel it. A Coke can pops down and Odd snatches it up. "Will you look at that!" Odd remarks. "Thanks a lot, good buddy." I snort and he cracks open the can, guzzling down some fluid. He lets out a sigh of relief and then I hear my phone start ringing. I glance at the screen and see it's from Jeremy, and shake my head.

"Hello?" I say, a bit annoyed.

"Superscan. Activated tower. Meet you at the factory," he says simply, and then hangs up. I nod to Odd and he understands. We run off through the park and I spot her again walking alone. I look away but not before I see her head turn. I don't look back, still feeling disgusted. We skate through the sewers and I still can't get her off my mind. _Get real. It's not your fault. It's all hers. She doesn't understand what she's doing._ We get to the Lab and Jeremy's stroking his chin while Aelita's sitting on the floor. Looks like we're just waiting on William.

"You guys seen anything strange yet?" Jeremy asks. We shake our heads. "That makes me even more worried."

"Why?" Odd asks.

"XANA's attacks recently haven't been to cause trouble in the real world," Aelita says. "Which is why we're worried. XANA has to be plotting something we don't know about."

"Well, if we deactivate the tower we won't have any trouble," I mutter. William appears in the elevator and I glance over.

"We all ready to go?" he asks. "Let's go fight some monsters." _That guy is way too excited about this stupid job,_ I think. _Wait. What did I just say? This is the fate of the world. Please have mercy, for I've been taken by hypocrisy._

"Ulrich, are you alright?" Aelita asks. I realize I'm still standing in the elevator like an idiot and the others are all in the scanner room.

"Oh, yeah, fine," I say quickly. "You three can go in first." They step inside and I stand in the middle, waiting for the scanners. The door finally opens and I step inside, landing on rock a moment later. Mountain sector.

"Your taxis," Jeremy says, and a moment later our vehicles appear in front of us. Aelita hops on the Overbike with me while William takes off in smoke and Odd on the Overboard. "The activated tower should be straight ahead. It's located in the middle of a bunch of caves, so be careful."

"I hope you're still in fighting shape," Aelita says. "It's been a while since we've been here."

"They're just dumb monsters," I grumble. "I'll take care of anything." We zoom through the various tunnels and hills with no monsters in sight.

"Did XANA run out of juice to afford the champagne? No welcoming committee in sight!" Odd exclaims.

"I wouldn't be so sure of that," Jeremy replies. "You're almost at the tower. There are three Kankrelats in your way." Odd suddenly almost falls off the Overboard and I zoom under him but he regains his balance at the last second. I see that he's cracking up.

"Kankrelats?!" he shouts. "You gotta be joking! Ulrich, you wanna make this a contest of who can kill them the quickest?"

"How about you just get rid of them?" I suggest. "I'm not gonna dull my saber for something worthless like those things." We stop in front of a large cavern and sure enough, there are three of them in front of it.

"William, wanna make this a competition?" Odd asks.

"You're on," he says, smirking. He charges up a shockwave and fires it, killing two of them.

"Hey! No fair!" Odd yells, and shoots the last one full of Laser Arrows.

"Be careful," Jeremy warns. "XANA might have some other nasty surprises in store."

"Yeah, yeah, we get it," Odd says. We walk inside the cavern and the lighting gets worse. There's still some peeking out from holes in the top of the formation.

"The tower is just a few more paces away," Jeremy says.

"We don't see it, Jeremy," Aelita answers.

"You're right. I don't see it on the visual either. Hang on, just keep walking and you should run into it."

"Jeremy, there's something coming out of the shadows," William says nervously. I look at where he's pointing and he's right. I see human figures walking out. The first one reaches the light and I see it's the Odd clone. More start coming out. One for each of the Lyoko Warriors, except for me. I look over at where they're standing and the tower is behind, shining with a red aura.

"So, uh, how are we splitting this up, guys?" Odd asks nervously. "Shall we each battle our own clone, and Ulrich takes Yumi?"

"Sounds good to me," Aelita grunts, dodging an Energy Field from the clone. Out of the corner of my eye I see the two Williams swinging their swords against each other, making massive blows.

"You wanna trade?" I ask, as the two remaining clones advance on us. "This is getting too weird."

"I agree," Odd concurs. "I'm not a huge fan of fighting myself." He leaps at the Yumi clone with his claws. I pull out both my swords and start deflecting fire from the Odd clone. I charge at it and he does flips to avoid my sword swings. He activates his shield and it clashes against my sword.

"You're not getting away," I hiss, and stab at the shield with my other sword. The shield breaks and the sword plunges into the Odd's chest, destroying him. I look around at the others' progress. William's sword cuts across his clone's body and Odd fires a bunch of Laser Arrows into the Yumi clone.

"Aelita still needs help, and only she can deactivate the tower!" Jeremy exclaims.

"There might still be more surprises," I say. "We should go clear the path up ahead."

"There's nothing on my radar screen, Ulrich!" Jeremy says in his annoying ass halfway-through-puberty voice crack tone. William rushes over to help Aelita and we're left standing. I see a glint out of the corner of my eye and quickly whip out my sword, but the figure plunges into Odd.

"Wha-hey!" Odd exclaims as his body dissolves to pixels. I recognize the figure as me. A clone of my own, except this one isn't surrounded in shadow like the other ones. It's an identical copy of me. I rush towards it but it leaps towards William, stabbing him in the back as well. Aelita gasps and barely has time to put her shield up before her clone fires another Energy Field.

"That does it," I growl. I Super Sprint towards the clone and slash down, but he turns around and catches the blade, smirking. He yanks it from my grasp and breaks the sword with his hands. Then, he speaks.

"I've been waiting for you, Ulrich."

"You're creepy," I finally muster, after a moment of stunned silence. I slash towards him with my other sword and he catches it again.

"Please, I would hate to have to leave you weaponless," he says coolly. "Then you wouldn't be able to defend poor Aelita and this activated tower would have much bigger ramifications."

"What do you want?" I say through gritted teeth, pulling my sword back. His eyes widen and he smiles.

"The world, Ulrich. And, you can help me. And I will be able to help you."

"Ulrich!" Jeremy yells. "What are you doing?! Kill this clone!" I suddenly swing towards him again and he whips his sword out faster than I can see, hitting my sword away with so much force I get sent flying back.

"Last warning," he says. "Or you can tell Belpois that he will have failed to deactivate the tower." He snaps his fingers and all of a sudden it goes eerily silent.

"You're a fucking computer program," I spit. "What could you possibly want from me?"

"Oh, Ulrich, I am so much more than that," the clone says. "Look into my eyes and tell me what you see." The Eye of XANA disappears from his pupils and I see my own brown eyes in him.

"You don't feel emotion," I say simply.

"I've studied quite a lot on human beings," he replies. "And I can tell you, we have so much in common. Look more closely. See the frustration, the disappointment, the confusion, the anger." His eyes narrow and he stares at me, and I see…myself. The countless nights in front of mirrors I would stare after something terrible happened.

"What do you want?" I say a bit less confidently.

"I want you to join me," he whispers. "To rule the world."

"Why do you need me?" I ask automatically. This was getting stranger. Usually I would've just flat out denied him. But I was…listening…to XANA…

"You are powerful," the clone says. "Your fighting skills far exceed anything I have ever seen. You have been able to fight out of just about everything I've ever sent for you. I need someone with your power, your abilities."

"So you want me to be your pawn," I say simply. The clone recoils, giving a face of disgust.

"No, no, no, not at all!" he says indignantly. "Ulrich, tell me, why is it that every time your missions fail, you are always the one blamed first?" I stay silent as he comes closer, putting a hand on my shoulder. "Because your friends fear you, Ulrich. They fear the power and the potential you have. You are an unsharpened weapon that has already killed many; I can make you into something greater. You won't have to answer or please anyone. Not authority, not your friends, and certainly not…Miss Ishiyama."

"What did you just say?" I hiss.

"Do you know why she left you?" he questions.

"That's none of your business," I reply bitterly.

"It's because she doesn't trust you," the clone whispers. "Isn't it such a terrible feeling? To know that she doesn't trust you, or for that matter, nobody does. Even though you are by far the strongest, most cunning, and bravest warrior, you are always the first to be blamed. Because they know you are capable of something greater. If you were to ever learn the secrets of the supercomputer, you would be unstoppable. The mind of Belpois and Hopper combined with the warrior in you."

"I don't care about power," I say. "I just want respect."

"Ah yes," the clone says. "Respect. The other thing lacking in your life. Tell me, Ulrich, who can you say truly respects you?"

"My friends," I say immediately.

"But do they really?" he questions. "Belpois sees you as nothing more than a pawn. A soldier to carry out his plan. He only keeps you around to do the dirty work, to finish off monsters like a mindless brute so others can achieve greater things. Your only purpose to Aelita is to guide her safely to the tower. Della Robbia is busy downgrading your ability for his own gloating, and charming William Dunbar has merely struck an uneasy truce with you. And Miss Yumi Ishiyama. The one who can't respect any part of you. Love is a dangerous game, Ulrich. It blinds you from the truth. She thinks you are much too stubborn and quick to react. She believes you will never be able to understand human emotion. It's convenient for her to overlook her own downfalls, simply to justify her lack of faith in you."

"She loved me," I say softly.

"You know I'm right," the clone says firmly. "I feel your anger, your hatred. She doesn't care about you anymore. Yumi left you because it was easy for her. You fell into her trap. She came to know the real Ulrich, and decided she could not trust you. Because…you do what's right. You retaliate in justice against those who have wronged you. She likes to lure people in, with her stone cold passivity, and break them like you. Don't continue to live this life of anguish and longing for what is rightfully yours!"

* * *

I activate my wings and fly around. The clone comes after me with more Energy Fields and I shield in midair to block them.

"Jeremy!" I scream. "What's going on with Ulrich?"

"The clone is trying to manipulate him to join XANA!" Jeremy exclaims. "That's why the tower's activated! It's a trap, to give the single clone more power!"

"Try to convince him to stay," I yell, and fly out of the way of more Energy Fields. The Aelita clone chases me upward and I fly further and further away.

"He's not listening to me," Jeremy says frantically. "The Ulrich clone has put some sort of bug in the communication program. Ulrich can't hear me!" I fire more Energy Fields at the Aelita clone and it quickly flies out of the way.

"I'll try to get to him," I say, and dive down.

"Watch out!" Jeremy warns. I dodge another Energy Field and land on the ground. I throw some pink balls of my own at the Aelita clone and she blocks them with her shield. _It really would be nice to have another weapon right now,_ I think. I try summoning my Creativity to make a pit but the clone fires quickly and I have to dodge out of the way. "Come on Aelita!" Jeremy shouts.

"I'm doing my best," I mutter. The duel is quickly becoming a stalemate, but the clone is still winning since it prevents me from getting to Ulrich. I charge at the clone with Energy Fields and she forms more as well. The pink energy balls collide in midair and explode.

The clone stands motionless after the explosion, as if expecting me to make a move. I combine two Energy Fields and send a massive ball at the clone. It deflects it with its own Energy Field and I leap out of the way to avoid it. The clone suddenly puts her hands together and I hear the song of Creativity, only darker and with more dissonance. Stone walls rise up all around me and cover me like a cocoon. There are narrow cracks in between but I can't fit through them.

"Aelita, no!" Jeremy yells. I fire some Energy Fields at the walls and they shake but don't budge.

"Jeremy, it'll take a while to destroy this thing," I say worriedly. I see the clone triumphantly fold her arms and turn to the two Ulrichs. I run my hands along the walls, probing for weaknesses.

* * *

"Why do you think you enjoy it here?" the clone asks, walking slowly in a circle around me. "It's because you're the king here. No one can match up to you. You have no worries. Nothing can bother you." He turns me towards the horizon and points. "Everything can be yours. You will be the ruler of Lyoko. And once my plan is complete, I will grant you whatever you desire."

"Whatever I want…?" my voice trails off.

"You are just now beginning to realize your potential," the clone says. "Leave everything behind. All of it is trivial, restrictive and unrelenting. It prevents you from becoming something greater. All your life you've wanted to be respected, to be wanted, to be perfection. Join me, Ulrich, and we will rule the world. You can make things however you want them to be. Follow my lead. Use your skills, and you will finally be able to do what is right." I look around at the sector. The Aelita clone is standing next to a giant rock cocoon-like thing. The virtual mountains loom large and surround us in the distance. The tower stands behind the clone, still glowing red, and behind it nothing but the Digital Sea.

"What do I have to do?" I ask softly.

"What you've already been doing," he replies. "But for me. Fight. Fight to defend the towers, to defend the right way, to defend yourself. You will stay here as a guardian. Then, once my plan is complete you will be granted whatever you wish."

* * *

"Don't listen to him, Ulrich!" I yell, but it's no use. The rock muffles my voice and he can't hear me. I fire more Energy Fields at the formation but it's no use.

"Aelita, try using your Creativity to counter it," Jeremy suggests.

"How?" I ask. "I don't know if I can counter what the clone did."

"You have to try!"

"And then what? Once the thing disappears she'll just devirtualize me with an Energy Field!"

"We have to do something. It doesn't look like Ulrich's resisting what the clone is saying." I think about it for a little while, and then formulate a plan. I summon my Creativity and a small hole forms in the top of the cocoon. I peek through the crack and see that the clone's back is still turned. Gathering my energy, I jump up and grab onto the edge of the opening. I peek my head over the top, seeing the two Ulrichs talking and the Aelita clone still turned.

"Energy Field!" I shout and hurl a ball at the Aelita clone. She yells in surprise as the ball collides with her and she's immediately devirtualized. The two Ulrichs spin around and I can see that one of them has the Eye of XANA pulsating in his forehead. I run towards them and stop in front of them.

"Ulrich, he's trying to trick you," I say, holding a hand up. "He doesn't care about you. As soon as you do whatever he wants he'll kill you!"

"See?" the clone says mockingly. "Your friends don't care. She only wants you to stop listening so she can deactivate the tower. And for what purpose? I can activate another one whenever I desire. You are fighting a losing battle, Ulrich. Not only that, you fight for the side who doesn't even trust you. I trust both your skills and your loyalty. And it's time you had someone who did." Ulrich turns his back to both of us, his fists clenched. I walk up slowly to him and put my hand on his shoulder. He brushes it off and turns around, glaring at me. I can see his face of emotions, full of pain and rage. I back away as the clone smirks.

"Aelita, devirtualize him!" Jeremy yells.

"What?" I say breathlessly.

"Devirtualize him! It's the only way we can prevent this disaster!" I don't want to, but I see that Jeremy's right.

"Sorry, but I have to do this to you Ulrich," I say. I charge up an Energy Field and throw it at him and he deflects it with his sword.

"And so I'm right," the clone remarks triumphantly. "Finish this, Ulrich. The betrayal is right here in front of you. Fulfill your destiny." Ulrich charges towards me and I throw up a shield as his swords clash against it. He swings again and breaks the shield, sending me flying backwards. I throw more Energy Fields but he's too fast for me and dodges all of them. He punches me and I land hard on the ground.

"Ulrich, don't do this," I beg. "Your emotions are overtaking you. You can't join XANA." He raises his blade in preparation, glaring at me with hatred.

"It's time to set things right, my friend," the clone says behind him.

"Ulrich," I say desperately. "Please." He swings the blade down and my avatar immediately starts disintegrating. The last thing I see is the clone putting his hand on Ulrich's shoulder.

I reappear in the scanner and immediately run back up to the Lab. Odd and William are watching tensely around Jeremy as he watches the screen.

"I lost the visual, but they're still on Lyoko," Jeremy says.

"Can't you devirtualize him from here?" Odd yells. "Do it now!" Jeremy frantically starts typing keystrokes in and he's met with a red exclamation point and a beeping.

"It's all bugged up," Jeremy gasps. "I can't devirtualize him!"

"What do you mean, you can't?" I ask.

"It's the clone," Jeremy deduces. "XANA must have blocked the manual devirtualization program!" We watch as the green arrow and the now visible red arrow walk towards the edge.

"What are they trying to do?" William says nervously.

"They're headed for the Digital Sea," Jeremy says grimly. Sure enough, a moment later the two arrows disappear off the edge of the radar. A moment later the tower stops beeping, indicating its deactivation.

"Won't that kill Ulrich forever?" William asks.

"XANA must have granted them these powers. It's like how you couldn't be devirtualized or killed when you were possessed," Jeremy answers.

"Well, on the bright side, we know XANA has to activate a tower to get this powerful," Odd chuckles nervously.

"We just lost him to XANA," I say, shaking. "How? What could XANA have possibly told him?"

"Probably the same thing that convinced Xavier to join him," Jeremy replies.

"This is a huge problem," I say. "If XANA's going to keep recruiting people to join his cause we won't stand a chance."

"I agree," Jeremy says. "That makes it all the more important we end this quickly and bring Ulrich back. The sooner we can talk to him the sooner we can finish this."

"How?" I murmur. "He wouldn't even listen to me. I doubt he'd listen to any of you at this point. He's been completely manipulated by XANA."

"In the meantime, I guess we'll have to prop up the dumb polymorphic Ulrich that Einstein inevitably creates," Odd says, jerking a thumb towards the computer. "This affects us in more ways than just on Lyoko."

"There is one solution," William says quietly. We all turn to him and he's gazing off into space. "One person he might listen to."

"And who might that be?" Odd asks. "I hope you're not thinking what I'm thinking, because there's no way that'll work."

"It's so crazy it just might," William says, nodding. "Yumi."

* * *

 **Apologies for the lack of romance/fluff. I'll try to sprinkle some in where I can but don't worry, I'm anticipating the last few chapters/epilogue will have plenty to make up for the shortage of fluff these last six or seven chapters :)**


	26. Chapter 26: Confrontation

It's been weird ever since I made that decision. My life felt alive, free, and joyful. I could do whatever I wanted without worry. I found the last few weeks of school more interesting, got more social and fought less with my family. But I couldn't shake the feeling of emptiness that still haunted me. The reality that there was more than just my life at stake. _Get over it. This isn't your fight anymore,_ I tell myself. _You made a decision, don't look back on it. Move forward._ There was also the matter of Mr. Stern. I didn't think I would miss him, with all of his stubborn and hotheaded glory, but the old feelings were beginning to resurface. I'd spent the first week clearing my memories of him, storing everything away. I had painfully let go of the good memories and filled my mind with the terrible ones whenever I felt nostalgic. _It wasn't meant to work. Did you see how many times you fought?_ But then I would see him and be filled with longing and bitterness simultaneously. _He did so much for you. He cared about you. But he also cared more about himself…_ On the long nights I would take a look at the scar across my torso, and all the pain would come flooding back in.

I'm sitting at a bench alone on a cloudy day after school. I have two weeks before I need to declare my decision and neither school was making it easy with scholarship money. I turn the pop can around in my hand, pondering the decision. Oxford was clearly the superior school but didn't offer much aid at all. And I didn't wanna subject my parents to even more stress than they already dealt with. I gaze out over the park, seeing some younger kids throw a Frisbee and high schoolers walk and talk. The other day I'd bumped into Ulrich and Odd. I tried not to make any commotion but seeing the scowl on Ulrich's face made my annoyance and temper flare up. Luckily I left before things could get any worse, and a few minutes later I saw them sprinting towards the woods for what was definitely another Lyoko mission. Whatever. They could fight over their stupid stats contest, and I would mind my own business.

I see a figure in an olive T-shirt and Under Armour shorts walking around. He seems to be coming closer to me and I recognize him as Ulrich. _Right on cue,_ I think sarcastically. _What could he possibly want?_

"Are you-uh-uh-Yumi?" he stutters. I raise an eyebrow.

"What do you want?" I snap. "Stop playing dumb."

"Playing dumb?" he asks in confusion. "Is that a game?"

"Ulrich," I say coldly. "Just tell me what you want. Stop making it difficult and we can both be better off."

"I don't want anything," he laments. "I just wanted a new friend."

"Bye, weirdo," I snort, grabbing my bag and leaving before he can follow me. I'm on my way home when my phone starts ringing. I snatch it out of my pocket and look at the caller ID. **Jeremy Belpois.** I sigh and contemplate my next move. I could let it ring out and have him leave a voicemail. I could press the end button right there and cut it off. Or I could pick up and listen to him. After a few more rings I decide to pick up and stab the answer button with my finger.

"What is it?" I growl. "This better be important."

"We need your help," Jeremy says nervously. "It's very urgent."

"If it's about Lyoko I'm not interested," I reply. "We've already been through this."

"This isn't the same," Jeremy says quickly. "Ulrich's joined XANA." _What? What does that mean?_ I think.

"You mean, like, possessed? Because I just saw him and he was acting pretty dumb. So why didn't he attack me? Just go deactivate the tower or something. Run one of your programs."

"No, Yumi. He's joined XANA of his own free will," Jeremy corrects.

"That's impossible," I retort. "He couldn't be that stupid."

"It just happened the day before yesterday. I generated a polymorphic clone to take his place here and that's probably who you met just now. XANA's gotten more dangerous. He's not attacking with brute force anymore, but rather using a strategy of manipulation and subtlety to achieve his plans."

"And you want me to talk to him," I conclude.

"Yes. You're our only hope, Yumi. He won't listen to any of us, not even Odd. You're the only one who could get through to him. Otherwise he could be lost forever."

"And what am I supposed to say to him? 'Hi it's your ex, I know we broke up but I really want you to come back'?"

"Yumi, you're our last chance. If you don't help him then he'll stay with XANA, and it'll be even less likely we win this fight. And if we don't win then everyone is in danger."

"Knowing him he'd react violently to me being there. How would that help?"

"You'll have to figure something out. But it's better than doing nothing." I pull down the phone from my ear and stare at it. I grip it tightly, thoughts racing through my mind. No matter what I did, I was getting pulled back in. I didn't want to go. I promised myself my old life was over with, but it just dragged on endlessly, with no end in sight. I wanted it to be over for good. No more questions, new surprises, missions.

"Okay. When?"

Jeremy debriefs us on our mission the next night as I sit against the base of the Holomap. "So here's the deal. A tower's been activated in the ice sector. Something seems super fishy to me, but I can't tell what XANA is planning yet. So I'm going to send all of you to the ice sector, where hopefully you'll run into Ulrich. Then we can figure out what XANA's planning from there."

"So we deactivate the tower or talk to big-shot first?" Odd asks.

"I assume XANA will send him to block your way, so you'd probably be better off convincing him to lay off before you deactivate the tower," Jeremy replies. "You'd better be on your toes too, since I'm sure you're in for a fight."

"No time to waste," William decides. "Let's go." We head down to the scanners and I let the other three go in first. I stare at the closed walls of the scanners, contemplating all they'd brought me. Finally, one of them opens and I step in, feeling the familiar sensation of wind and floating. A moment later I land on ice. I take a look at my avatar, untouched for weeks. Same flowery shoulder pads, black and pink suit, yellow pack, and fans.

"Here come your vehicles," Jeremy announces. "Um, William, do you want the Overbike?"

"No way," he says. "That would just piss him off even more. Besides, Super Smoke is so much cooler." He takes off and Odd quickly follows. I wait for Aelita to hop on and we take off on the Overwing.

"It's good to have you back, Yumi," Aelita says.

"Don't expect this to be permanent," I grumble.

"Have you thought about what you're going to say?" she asks softly.

"I haven't the slightest idea," I reply. "I'm winging it. We'll see how messed up he is and I guess I'll go from there."

"The problem is we still don't know what XANA told him," she says worriedly. "And the bigger problem seems to be that XANA's gained an understanding of human emotions and how to imitate them."

"Were you there when it happened?" I ask. "What did XANA tell him?"

"XANA appeared as a clone of him," Aelita explains. "The clone devirtualized both Odd and William while I was fighting my own clone. Then he started talking to Ulrich while my clone stopped me from getting over there, and he shut off the communications with Jeremy."

"And what happened after?" I ask, intrigued.

"I eventually got rid of my clone and got to Ulrich, but it was too late. Whatever XANA told him he seemed to have bought into. XANA must have preyed on all of his negative emotions. I'd guess he probably talked about you to him too."

"Ugh, who knew a computer program could be such a creep," I mutter. We fly with the others and get close to the tower, located in a vast spot of ice.

"Where's our welcoming committee?" Odd asks, maybe a bit too enthusiastically.

"Don't let your guard down," Jeremy says. "The radar's picking up three Tarantulas dead ahead."

"We see them," William confirms. "What about Ulrich?"

"He should be close by. I think XANA has the ability to hide avatars from the radar, which is why the clones don't show up either."

"Let's handle business here first," I say, as the Tarantulas open fire. I dodge quickly, turning the Overwing from side to side. William pops up and slashes the first one with his sword. I unroll my kusarigama and fly in closer. I hear a whoop and see Odd firing at the other Tarantula. I hurl the scythe at the Tarantula's Eye and it explodes immediately on impact. Odd jumps off the Overboard and slashes the other one.

"If only I had a That Was Easy button," Odd says, grinning.

"Our work isn't done yet," Aelita says, pointing. "Look." We turn in the direction of the tower and see two Warturtles approaching.

"Those things look tough," William remarks.

"Yeah, try fighting them," I mutter.

"Remember, you have to protect Aelita," Jeremy reminds us.

"We know Einstein!" Odd yells as he leaps out of the way of a bomb. The Warturtles advance on us, firing more bombs from their cannon arms. We jump out of the way and Aelita shields as more rain on us.

"Odd, William, hold off the Warturtles," Jeremy orders. "Yumi, get Aelita to a safe spot. You two aren't here to fight."

"Oh, thanks, Jeremy," I drawl as I take Aelita's hand and we run. "Where exactly is a 'safe spot' in the middle of this ice plain?"

"Let's run toward the tower," Aelita suggests. "We'll have to deactivate it anyway." We run towards the red, glowing tower and I sneak a look back. Odd is teleporting around the Warturtle and shooting at it while William hacks away at his Warturtle with his blade.

"Yumi," Aelita interrupts. "Now would be a good time to start talking." I turn around and see a figure jump up. It looks like he came out of the Digital Sea; he lands between us and the tower. He's dressed in a dark yellow and gray suit with the Eye of XANA on his chest. Two swords are tucked away in his back and his head is covered in a gray veil. A gray, metallic mask covers all of his face except for his eyes, and even though his head is covered, I see the unmistakable brown hair protruding from the veil.

"You don't need the mask," I say. "We know who you are."

"You never knew me," he replies.

"Stop putting up this act," I spit. "You know you're being played, right? You think this computer program has feelings for you. It's only learned how to imitate them. It doesn't feel anything for you."

"Why is it any of your business what I do?" he asks coldly. "That's a phrase you should be familiar with," he adds smugly. "I only learn from the best."

"We care about you," Aelita says. "We're your friends. Not XANA. We've stuck with you."

"Except for when you didn't!" he bellows.

"Ulrich," I state. He glares at me and I can tell he's struggling to keep up his act of being cool. "No matter what happened before, it's done. The others are still your friends. We can work things out. If you stay with XANA you won't ever get that chance."

"If I stay with XANA I won't need to make up!" he yells. "Don't you understand? I can have whatever I want!"

"You're not thinking straight," I scold. "After all this, you're the one who's throwing everything away."

"I'm done listening to you," he says bitterly, unsheathing a sword. "I'm done trusting you."

I quickly unroll my kusarigama again and block the first few strikes. Aelita hurls some Energy Fields and he's forced to dodge out of the way.

"Jeremy, what do we do now?" Aelita exclaims.

"Try to hold him off so you can get to the tower. We'll talk to him at a later time."

"Easy for you to say," I grunt as I throw the scythe end around his leg, pulling him towards me. He throws a shuriken and I flip out of the way, pulling the chain with me and releasing him. I unfold a fan and throw it at him, and he bats it out of the way with his sword and counters with a shockwave from his blade that I narrowly dodge with a jump. "Nice tricks you've picked up," I remark sarcastically. "I guess you get your own nice little hotel room in the Digital Sea too?"

"Shut up," he growls and charges at me. I raise a hand towards him and he starts floating in the air. I throw a fan at him and he manages to block it with his sword. His eyes glow and he slices down with the sword and falls to the ground, and I feel an excruciating pain in my head from the broken telekinesis. He charges at me again and I flip over, catching the blade with my two hands.

"Like you said, 'I only learn from the best'", I quote, and pull the blade away from him.

"You're dead," he snarls, and stabs at me with his other blade. I deflect the blows while holding my sword awkwardly across my chest. I hop up and engage him in the swordfight. At first we're an even match but he starts pressing more and I start tiring. He rears back for a final blow and I hold his sword out as the blade swings. It shatters my sword and I'm left with a useless hilt. "Now, you're gone," he hisses, and slices at me. I duck and hit him with a vicious crescent kick, making him stumble backwards. His face plate falls off and I can see all of his features. He doesn't look angry, but rather shocked and bewildered. The face of unmistakable pain.

"Ulrich, please," I plead, reaching a hand out. He bats it away and hits me across the face, sending me flying. I manage to grab on to the edge of the ice before falling into the Digital Sea. He comes over and pulls out his blade again, scowling all the while.

"Goodbye," he says solemnly.

"I don't think so," I retort, and drop down. I summon my kusarigama again and swing the scythe, digging it into the face of the ice. It locks and now I'm swinging by the chain over the Digital Sea.

* * *

"Aelita, get to the tower while Ulrich's distracted!" I yell. She obliges and makes a run for it while I keep tabs on the other fights. Despite the Warturtles' slowness, they're giving Odd and William quite a handful, and Yumi's engaged in a brutal fight with Ulrich.

"Jeremy, we have a problem," Aelita says. I turn my attention to the visual and see she's backing up. A swarm of Hornets surrounds the tower and have now locked in on her.

"What the heck, XANA? Where did they come from?" I say exasperatedly.

"Doesn't matter. Send me a vehicle!" Aelita shouts. I nod and materialize the Overbike. A moment later she breaks her shield against the fire and hops on, speeding off.

"Take care of them quick, we have to deactivate the tower. They're trying to chase you away from it." Aelita fires Energy Fields behind her, managing to hit a few of the Hornets.

"Odd, William, how are you two doing?" I ask, turning my attention to them.

"We got one of them!" Odd yells as I see him teleporting around. "Are you sure there's not some secret weakness they have? It took Handsome five swings to finally kill the first one!"

"Use your speed to your advantage," William advises. "They might be tough but they're not fast." He speeds around the Warturtle with his Super Smoke, striking occasionally but only hitting shell. Odd hovers around it on his Overboard, shooting Laser Arrows whenever it peeks its head out.

"Jeremy!" Aelita gasps. The Hornets and Ulrich have surrounded her.

"Wait!" I say, confused. "Where's Yumi?"

"Right here," she grunts.

"She's hanging on the edge of the ice with her scythe," Aelita moans. "And now I'm surrounded."

"I believe that's my bike," I hear Ulrich growl.

"Not anymore it isn't!" I shout suddenly. _What has gotten into me?_ "Don't do this to yourself, Ulrich. You have to see who's lying and who cares!"

"Shut up!" Ulrich roars, and starts throwing shurikens at Aelita. She covers her body in a shield as she blocks both Hornet lasers and Ulrich's weapons.

"Jeremy, devirtualize me!" Yumi demands.

"What? Why?" I cry. "We need you for the fight!"

"I can't get enough momentum to get back onto the surface. My first swing wasn't good enough, and I can't hold on much longer," she yells. "Do it now or I'll fall!" I oblige and furiously type in the keystrokes. I've gotten better at typing in the complex sequence quickly, and I devirtualize her before she can fall into the Digital Sea.

"Not so fast, good buddy!" a voice yells. I recognize it as Odd's and see from the visual he's shooting down the Hornets on his Overboard. William charges up shockwaves and sends them at the remaining Hornets. Aelita lowers her shield and Ulrich runs towards her, but William jumps in the way to block his sword.

"Oh, how the tables have turned," William mutters. Behind me the door opens and Yumi comes and stands next to me.

"Give up, Ulrich, you're surrounded!" Odd shouts. He aims his wrists at him and Aelita forms more Energy Fields. Ulrich breaks his swordlock with William and flips backwards.

"I could defeat all three of you," he begins, "But my job is done here."

"Huh?" I say in confusion. I see the tower deactivate itself and Ulrich back up to the edge.

"Looks like you're too smart for your own good," he replies as he jumps into the Digital Sea.

"A diversion," Aelita realizes. "Jeremy, XANA activated the tower to conduct his own business knowing we'd be lured here by Ulrich."

"I'll get you three out of there and start searching," I say tensely.

"What could XANA want?" Yumi wonders.

"I hope my worst fears aren't true," I respond, gritting my teeth. After devirtualizing all three of them I run a scan in the Core of Lyoko. I was such an idiot…the possibility of XANA attacking the Core had totally slipped my mind.

"So what did our good pal do this time?" Odd asks as the rest of the group enters the Lab.

"It's just as I feared," I say, running through the scan results. "XANA activated the tower to gain access to the interface in the Core. He knew we'd be too distracted with Ulrich to bother him."

"What data did he steal?" Aelita asks.

"All the information on the supercomputer," I say grimly. "Now he knows exactly what kind of supercomputer can house him. We need to act quickly if we have a hope of ever wiping out XANA forever."

"So what can we do?" William inquires.

"I'm going to send you on a mission for the last parts of Franz Hopper's data," I determine. "Once we rescue him, he'll know what to do."

"And what about Ulrich?" Aelita asks. Everyone turns to Yumi. She's leaning against the wall, one foot on it, her arms folded and eyes closed. "He's invulnerable as long as he serves XANA," Aelita continues.

"I'll devise something," I say. "It'll be similar to how we brought back William, except Ulrich's powers aren't controlled by a tower so it'll be harder. But I'll do everything I can." The room goes silent, as if awaiting Yumi's take.

"I need time to think," she says finally, opening her eyes.

"So…you're still not going to come?" Odd asks.

"I'm not coming on any of your other missions. But I think I'm going to try to reach Ulrich again. He's not lost forever, just lost right now."

"So you'll stop in whenever it's convenient?" I say questioningly.

"Hey, let her do what she wants," William argues. "This life's been hard on her. I'm sure it's been hard on all of you as well. She obviously doesn't want to go through any more of it, but Ulrich is even more important. So we'll bring her back when the time comes, and she'll be ready."

"Thank you, William," Yumi says quietly. "I know I can reach him. I'm just not sure how yet."

"Sorry," I say sheepishly. "You can take your time, I don't anticipate many missions left. We'll recover Hopper's data, and I'll find a way to free Ulrich from XANA's grip."

"You can always ask for our input too," Aelita says, putting a hand on Yumi's shoulder.

"Yeah," Odd adds. "I have a giant mental list of everything that makes him happy and pisses him off." Yumi smiles weakly.

"Thanks, you guys," she says appreciatively. "I'll keep that in mind. Oh, and one more thing. Jeremy?"

"Hm?" I utter.

"Is it possible for you to program me a sword?"

"A sword?" I say, scratching my head. "I could program anything as long as it's not too fancy. Maybe a staff like how Ulrich's swords are when they're combined? What do you need it for?"

"As great as the kusarigama is, I can't fight him with it forever," Yumi replies. "Any skilled swordsman knows how to counter a weapon that's specifically designed to disarm other weapons. I need to fight him on even ground."

"Sure thing, I can work on that," I promise.

"Hey! If you can do that for her, you should program some new weapons for me too!" Odd protests.

"Aren't two claws that basically act as swords good enough, Odd?" I sigh. The others chuckles and Odd rolls his eyes.

"Okay, point taken," he concedes. "Now I'm tired. Let's get to bed." The others agree and follow him out of the factory, except for Aelita.

"Are you sure you'll be able to handle all this?" she asks. "This is a lot to ask of you. I could help you with some of it."

"That'd be great, but I'll still do it myself when I can. I don't want to stress you out."

"Stress me out? No way. Most of the time I sit around wondering what I can do to help you."

"Hm. Well, I've got some calculations to finish up and then I'll join you."

"Uh uh. No way. You can finish them up tomorrow, let's head back."

"Ugh, okay fine." She takes my hand and grips it tightly as we walk back to the academy. I blush a little bit, but it's not as bad as before. We walk in mostly silence and I kind of enjoy it. It's like we're compatible enough that we don't need to jabber to fill the small moments. We share a gentle kiss outside the gate, and head for our rooms.


	27. Chapter 27: Doubts and Revelations

**Fans of monologuing, rejoice since this chapter has plenty of it XD *cue Syndrome's speech* "You sly dog, you got me monologuing!" Anyways, we're almost to the end. Read and Review!**

* * *

The Totoro doll gazes at me, its goofy grin a stark contrast to myself. I glance around my room: the low bed, the bookshelves and drawers, the window that moonlight shines through, and finally the space under my desk where I kept the necklace locked away. _I'm done trusting you,_ the voice echoes. But he wasn't. I could see it in that moment. The face of conflict and temporary regret, replaced quickly by more anger and anguish. _Since when did you get so good at reading people?_ I think sarcastically. _Maybe Aelita's rubbed off on you._

"Yumi?" A voice interrupts my thoughts. "You're not asleep yet?"

"Uh, I will be in a moment, Dad, just had to finish up some homework," I explain through the door.

"That's the least of your concerns. You should be thinking about your final decision on college. If you need help, you can talk to us."

"No problem, Dad, I'm on it," I say hurriedly.

"See to it. Goodnight, Yumi."

"Goodnight." I hear footsteps getting fainter and I lie down on my bed, staring at the ceiling.

" _I understand perfectly. You're being selfish, putting yourself above the rest of the world."_

 _"Don't be a hypocrite! Since when have you ever thought about the world instead of running around, trying to rack up stats?"_ I cringe as I remember our last conversation. I shouldn't have turned him away like that. I knew he'd be stung by it. Then again, he might have had a point too. It was just a scar. A minor glitch that happened since the program was like a tenth of a percent away from being completely uploaded. I'd been shot at by monsters, consumed by the Digital Sea and lost at sea in a Nav Skid. And this one little scar somehow had more of an effect on me than all of that. I sigh and head for the bathroom.

The hot water soothes me as it runs down my body and I close my eyes. I picture him, his straight brown hair, softly intense brown eyes, and olive collared jacket. The kid still had trouble expressing himself and what he wanted. He would either say nothing or say too much. And all those bottled up feelings would eventually make him explode in some way, confusing everyone, even his friends. That was his main problem. I'd mistook it for hypocrisy and clinginess. He sounded so bitter, so stubborn that I just decided I was done with him right there. I open my eyes and wipe the water out of them, stroking a hand through my hair. In reality, I think he only felt one thing when I made my decision. Fear. He was scared of losing me forever, and he'd struggled with his emotions. I noticed him shifting uncomfortably but not saying anything when I was discussing the decision with the others, and I was wondering why he didn't add his thoughts. He was my boyfriend, after all. _I have to find out what XANA told him,_ I think. _Especially about me._ I was shocked at first to hear the news, but the more I thought about it, the more it all fell into place. He'd kept his anger and sadness to himself once again, and XANA took the perfect opportunity to exploit that. _It's my fault,_ I think, ashamed. _I never should have pushed him away._

I finish my shower and get dressed in a white tank top and flannel pants. I shut the lights, close the door and lay in bed with my arms above my head. _No matter what I do, he finds a way back in,_ I think, cracking a small smile to myself. But there were still so many questions. Our personalities were different types of fire, and instead of cancelling each other out they tended to combine and make bigger problems. Even if we did get back together, how the hell were we going to work out a long-distance relationship when the time came in a few months? And XANA. Lyoko. There was no telling when it would end. I was sure I didn't want to go back. It had spiced up my high school years and brought me close to a group of unique friends. But I had already moved on the first time before being dragged back into it this year. Lyoko was great. It was a thrill and an adventure that helped me form bonds. But it was time to move on. Questions keep popping up and buzzing in my head, and I sigh, roll over and close my eyes, praying for everything to work out.

"Sis, I still don't understand Law of Cosines."

"Hiroki, I did 10 practice problems with you yesterday."

"It's hard!" I roll my eyes as I walk to the academy with him the next morning.

"It's very simple. One of the sides squared equals the rest of the formula, substituting in the other sides. You can use it for any side of the triangle."

"I have a quiz today!"

"Guess you'll have to remember it then," I snort. A light breeze blows and I instinctively clutch my shirt. My wardrobe of regular shirts is significantly smaller than my regular stock of cropped ones, and I've been going through them like crazy and buying more. Luckily my parents haven't cared too much about the change. The scar's pretty much all but just a mark on my skin now, but it's still fairly long and runs across half of my abdomen. We get to the school gates and Hiroki runs off with his friends as I continue walking.

I look around the cafeteria, seeing it's pretty packed today. I notice the gang sitting at their usual table, along with William. Seeing no other options, I take a seat next to Aelita.

"Well, the Glamorous Geisha has rejoined us," Odd exclaims. I raise an eyebrow.

"What did you just call me?"

"Glamorous Geisha," Odd says, smiling cheesily. "Do you like it? It popped into my head as I saw you walking over."

"It has a nice ring to it," Aelita giggles. "But glamorous isn't the first thing that comes to my mind when I think of Yumi."

"Very funny, you two," I say, rolling my eyes.

"We are glad you're back with us," Aelita says in a more serious tone. "We were all beginning to miss you."

"It wasn't my intention to cut you off completely," I reply. "I guess it just would've been weird to hang around you all and still hear about Lyoko all the time."

"Are you kidding?" William remarks. "It's barely been any time since I started hanging around these three and half the time it's just Odd planning his next prank on Jim."

"Jeremy, how long do you think it'll take before we can bring him back?" I ask, not wanting to wait around.

"I'm not sure," he says, pushing his glasses up as he scans his laptop. "It's hard to get a read on how XANA is supplying him with power. I need to go back over the notes of how we brought William back."

"How long will that take?"

"I'm not sure. I have to dig up the data and see how I can modify it. Without a stable beacon however it'll be hard to transfer the raw code to a point where it can assemble into the necessary patterns required to-"

"Stop!" Odd yells. We all look at him, startled. "Okay. Now, keep explaining, but so we can understand."

"Basically, it's a harder process because he's not under XANA's control," Aelita explains. "So XANA can still power Ulrich but the data isn't necessarily stored in a tower."

"Let me know when you'll be ready, Jeremy."

"Hopper is the key to ending this," Jeremy says. "If I can materialize him, he could speed up the process for us. So the rest of you, as soon as I've located the last supercomputer, we'll go and retrieve the data and I should be able to bring Hopper back from there."

"And I'll bring him back when the time comes," I say thoughtfully.

"Have you figured out what you're going to say to him yet?" Aelita asks.

"No. But I'm beginning to get some ideas."

* * *

I sit on the edge of the canyon, overlooking the tower in the distance and the surrounding sand and rocks. Behind me two Tarantulas sit at standby as I gaze over the horizon. _We can help you. We're your friends, not XANA._ My brow furrows and I rest my chin on my hands. _We've always stuck with you, Ulrich,_ Yumi's voice echoes. _They don't trust you,_ XANA's voice echoes back. I sigh and think back to my life on the real world. None of it really seemed to matter anymore. I was stuck in this world now, and the goal was close. Soon I wouldn't have to worry about any drama, or emotions about people I tried to forget about. _But for what?_ A voice asks. _You don't even know what he's promised you. For all you know you could get nothing for helping him take over the world._

"It's validation," I mutter to myself. _Finally, someone who can respect me for who I am._ But even those thoughts sounded unsure. They were exactly the regurgitated words XANA had told me. All this stuff about trust and respect was important. XANA at least seemed to understand that. But maybe they were right as well…

"I have a new assignment," a voice says behind me. I turn around and see the Ulrich clone with his arms crossed. "Our plan is almost complete. Soon I will have located the supercomputer from which I can permanently inhabit. Then, I will always be able to survive."

"So what do you want me to do?"

"Soon they will attempt to materialize Hopper." I detect a hint of annoyance in his voice. "You will attack the hangar of their ship, and failing that, will give pursuit in the Digital Sea. Once they arrive in Carthage you will attack."

"Wouldn't it just make more sense to destroy the ship now?"

"You will destroy the ship with the warriors inside it. What is the saying you humans have? 'Two birds with one stone'? That is my intention." I nod in understanding.

"It will be done."

"Good. Do not fail me. I will gather my data fragments that are spread across the Sea, and soon I shall be invincible." It's then that I remember Jeremy's plan. To…what was it? Modify the Core so XANA could absorb it? And then kill him with the multi-agent system. I grit my teeth, weighing the possibilities.

"With all due respect," I say suddenly. "I remembered part of Belpois' plan. I think he plans to do something on Lyoko that could trap you but is also highly risky."

"Something?" the clone says, raising an eyebrow. "And you do not remember the rest of his plan?"

"Not the details, no. But I think you should stay on Lyoko for the time being. When he puts his plan into action he might lose control of it, and then you'll easily be able to overpower him."

"Interesting suggestion," he replies. "Very well, I will stay on this cursed world for the time being."

"You should gather all of your data on Lyoko," I add hastily. "You'll need it to overcome whatever he's got planned." If there was a way for a computer program to look suspicious, I saw it in the clone's face.

"Very well," he finally says. "Do as you please until they arrive for Hopper's data." He disappears as a shadow and I turn to the two Tarantulas."

"Well, what are you waiting for? Go on!" I say, motioning in the distance. The two Tarantulas start crawling away on all fours, heading for the edge of the sector. I sit back down and gaze over the canyon once again. I'd just tricked XANA. I had made it easier for Jeremy and the rest of the Lyoko Warriors to succeed. And for what? I still felt empty, without a purpose. _It's because you both don't trust each other,_ I think suddenly. How ironic. Still though, his words echoed in my mind. _I can offer you the world. Nothing will ever bother you again._ His tantalizing promise dances around in my mind, making me feel even more confused. _She doesn't trust you. Did you see how she acted? There's nothing behind that wall but more indifference and mistrust._ I sigh and toss a rock over the canyon. I couldn't tell whose side I should be on. I didn't know what to do. I remove my mask and look at it in my hand, the futuristic design giving it a unique hybrid feel of both ninjitsu and virtual reality. I toss it over the canyon and watch as it disappears from my sight. I then rip the hood off my suit and throw it over as well. Yumi was right. I wouldn't need these anymore.

* * *

"Remind me again why I'm coming?" I groan.

"Cuz Einstein said so," Odd says, shrugging. "Hey, don't ask me why. He said it was super important that you see whatever he has to show us as well." Odd was sent to come get me after school and apparently the others are on their way there as well. I don't know what could possibly be this important to involve me in it; I'd made it clear I was pretty much done with Lyoko.

"Hopefully this won't take long."

"Oh right! You've got college and stuff to worry about."

"That'll be you next year, Odd. Unless of course, you plan on being held back."

"Hey! My grades aren't _that_ bad!" I chuckle as we walk towards the sewer entrance. It was nice to be back in the friend group after a few weeks out of it. Being alone again had felt strange and unnatural, vastly different from when I would isolate myself in junior high and not feel a thing. I realized I did miss everything about my friends, from the most pointless of banter to the most serious of missions.

"Race you to the ladder," I challenge when we get to the sewers.

"Prepare to lose!" Odd declares and hops on his skateboard. I grab my own from the wall and speed down the tunnel. Odd takes the time to flip his board in midair and I zoom down the stairs, gaining ground. I reach the ladder first and slap it, stopping my board with my foot.

"Guess you got too showy for your own good."

"Yeah, well you'll never catch me in style points!" he retorts. We climb up the ladder and run across the bridge, swing down on the ropes and take the elevator down to the Lab.

"Cool, everyone's here," Jeremy remarks as we enter.

"So what's so urgent about this that we have to be here?" William asks. "I've got a couple of paintings I need to finish to let them dry."

"It won't take long. But you might want to brace yourself."

"Brace ourselves? For what?" Aelita questions.

"I tried doing some more research on Xavier today from the data we collected. I'd mostly focused on the Hopper aspect of it, but today I did a little sifting through the other files to see what could have possibly motivated him to join XANA."

"And you think it might be the same stuff he told Ulrich," I state.

"Maybe. But there's something more important. It's a glimpse into how XANA operates. I found codes that let me hack into his video feed of his supercomputer."

"Well, what are you waiting for? Play it!" Odd demands. Jeremy nods and brings up the recording, and plays it from a date of this year's Christmas break. There's an industrial looking room and it's filled with bookshelves and technology. A man with jet black hair and a few wrinkles is sitting at the chair, muttering to himself. I shudder as I watch him work.

"What do you want?" he shouts. "You destroyed everything, are you back to take more?"

"He's talking to XANA, isn't he?" William asks. Jeremy nods in affirmation.

"Professor Xavier," a voice hisses quietly. It's slightly robotic and isn't supposed to sound emotional, yet it sounds cold and sinister. "Quite the opposite. I am here to offer you a partnership." I look at the screen and see that all of the computer screens on the supercomputer have the Eye of XANA on them and nothing else.

"What could I possibly get out of you? I've been out of this project for over 10 years. I've moved on from this failure."

"It is indeed true that I was the one who destroyed your precious little Project Carthage. I also outgrew and killed my master Franz Hopper. So now, I wish to conquer the world. And so do you, Professor." Chills run down my spine. Xavier had undoubtedly been on the side of world domination for Project Carthage, and he was bitter and in hiding after the failure. XANA preyed on his negative emotions, just as with Ulrich.

"I don't get it," Aelita comments. "This was at the time XANA wasn't powerful yet. How did he get access to that supercomputer and why didn't he just possess Xavier?"

"He probably didn't have enough power to be able to form specters yet," Jeremy theorizes. "Plus, he probably devised manipulation as a new tactic and wanted to test it out. It worked, so logically he stuck with it. If it didn't he wouldn't have made the same mistake again."

"So then what?" Odd asks.

"The middle parts aren't too important. It's just discussing how XANA is gaining power again. Xavier helped him feed off excess energy in the network and he also started programming his world. It's the end that's important." Jeremy presses the fast forward button until I see the date on the recording is marked from a few weeks ago. I recognize it as the day right after Xavier's attack on Lyoko. The date I quit being a Lyoko Warrior, the date of the breakup. _And now this? It has to be cursed,_ I think to myself.

"What are you saying? I have done everything you asked!" Xavier bellows angrily. He's pacing back and forth, and the Eye of XANA is on the screens again.

"You failed," XANA says simply. "I gave you a direct mission. The tower was activated to facilitate your arrival on Lyoko. The trap was set and you were to kill all of them. Instead, you were a fool and allowed yourself to be distracted and defeated. I cannot expend any more resources to send you again, and the children are still alive."

"Okay, so it's one mission. So what?!" he says angrily. "I've helped your sorry ass become this powerful. If it wasn't for me you'd still be a digital fragment floating in the network!"

"Failure is not an option," XANA booms.

"You are literally the definition of failure! I failed twice, and you failed against them hundreds of times!" Xavier protests.

"You failed to kill them when they were surprised, even with your superior equipment."

"They got lucky. It won't happen again."

"Enough." I see the black gas formed from electricity spark out of the screen and Xavier backs up in horror. It quickly fills him and he starts choking. We gasp as the gas keeps filling him, unrelenting. Jeremy speeds up the video to the end. Xavier lies face-down on the floor and the gas escapes from him, going back into the screen.

"Ulrich," I whisper immediately. Jeremy nods grimly.

"Our worst fears about XANA are confirmed," Jeremy says. "Ulrich's walked right into a trap. XANA will squeeze as much usefulness out of him as he can, and then kill him off once he's no longer needed."

"This is way too dark for my liking," Odd says nervously.

"We have to shut down XANA. Immediately," Aelita says firmly.

"I'm working on it," Jeremy says, nodding. "I'll send you on the last Skid mission soon. Once I work out the coordinates for the world that the supercomputer houses you'll go in."

"And get going on that program too," I add. "We need to help Ulrich before it's too late."

"I can see why you wouldn't wanna get tangled up in this anymore," William remarks, turning to me. "This is serious business."

"That's all I have for now," Jeremy says. "Keep on the lookout for any weird things happening and hopefully we'll be done with this soon." Jeremy stays at his chair, working, and we all head out and walk across the bridge in stunned silence. I shove my hands in my pockets and look around at the river and the trees. All of it could mean nothing soon. Everything was in danger.


	28. Chapter 28: The Answer

**Almost there. The lack of fluff this chapter will be overcompensated by the last chapter and the epilogue. Also, don't know if this matters but disclaimer: any pop culture references I make/made in this fic, mostly but not limited to songs, I don't own. Cool. Odd, then Aelita POV. Enjoy! R &R!**

* * *

"Della Robbia, can you tell me the answer to this equation?"

"Um, uh, four," I stammer. The teacher glares at me and I hear snickers spread throughout the classroom. I sigh as she scolds me and goes back to writing more equations on the board. I glance at my notebook full of drawings. Lately they've been less Odd-like and more mundane. Like the one I drew of my good buddy in all of his glory with the new XANA armor. _I still can't believe he did it,_ I think sadly. _But when your good buddy does dumb things, it's up to you to fix them._ I look over at the Ulrich clone, staring into space. He'd been acting a little smarter than the William clone but he was more obnoxious in return. Back to paying attention…or at least trying. Final exam in…two weeks? Maybe one? Who knew.

I play some dodgeball in Jim-I mean, gym class and nail Nicolas in the face, prompting retaliation. He grabs a dodgeball and throws it angrily at me and I do a Lyoko-style flip out of the way, landing in front of Aelita.

"You just have a certain way with people, don't you?" she teases.

"Don't know what you're talking about. Watch out, Princess!" I yell and catch a ball just as it's about to hit her. "What would you do without me?"

"Don't spend too much energy. You do remember what we're doing after school, right?"

"Yeah, yeah. I wouldn't forget something like that!"

"It's a good thing. Sometimes I really wonder if all you think about is spaghetti and meatballs." I roll my eyes and run back to the front to start throwing. I expertly sidestep all the balls thrown at me and manage to piss off the other team even further, until Jim blows the whistle, signaling the end of class.

"Wow, we are understaffed today," I remark as I walk to the woods with Aelita after class. Jeremy had already texted that he was at the factory and William had to finish up an art project before joining us.

"Understaffed? There's still three of us to go to Lyoko," Aelita reminds me.

"Yeah, but either you go alone on the teleportation or someone stays and guards the Skid alone! This would be much easier with our Glamorous Geisha on board."

"Are you trying to make that nickname stick?" Aelita asks, raising an eyebrow.

"Perhaps," I say, grinning cheesily.

"And for what reason?"

"Princess, does everything need a reason?" I proclaim as we head down to the sewers. Aelita grabs her scooter and I take my trusty board, flipping and riding on the rails. We get to the Lab and Jeremy's furiously typing on the keyboard.

"Jeremy, what are you working on?" Aelita asks curiously.

"Communicating with Hopper," he replies. "He's sending me instructions on how to virtualize him on Lyoko once we retrieve the data."

"Great! Then that means you can bring him back, right?" I say excitedly.

"Not quite. But once I do virtualize him, I'll be able to communicate with him much easier and we can work on the program from there." The door opens behind us and William walks in, some paint still on his shirt.

"I'm ready to fight, Jeremy," he says, rolling up his sleeves. "Anything else we need to know?"

"Shouldn't be. Watch out for nasty surprises. I'll virtualize you three in Sector 5 and we'll go from there." We nod and head down to the scanners. The door closes and wind starts blowing, lifting me up. A moment later I land on the Eye of XANA, complete with my svelte torso and tail.

"No time to waste," Aelita says. "Let's go." We run towards the elevator and she presses the button, making the elevator zoom up towards the northern pole of Carthage.

"You ever thought about the fact that we might be saying goodbye to this good old battleship after this?" I bring up.

"It's not exactly in the best condition after we lost a Nav Skid," Aelita replies.

"I don't know. It seems cool but I haven't been in it much," William adds. "And now apparently my Nav Skid is gone?"

"Technically it's yours, but only in the sense that the calibration fits you the best," Jeremy interrupts. "You can take one of the other ones. There'll be a brief adjustment period but it should calibrate in no time." We reach the hangar and each get on a transporter spot, with Aelita in the middle. "Energize," Jeremy commands, and I find myself in my Nav Skid once again.

"Docking release," Aelita announces over the microphone. The Skid turns and I feel it beginning to launch upwards. Then I hear a loud thumping sound and the Skid rocks back and forth.

"Hey! Did you scrape a wall or something?" I shout.

"No! Something's on the Skid!" Aelita says nervously. I look around but I can't get a good view from my window. There's another banging sound and a violent rocking that follows.

"Hey! Tarantulas!" William points out. I look around and see indeed a few hairy-legged friends pointing their laser arms at us.

"Aelita, I've got the visual," Jeremy says. "Bad news. Ulrich's attacking the Skid with his katanas."

"I see him, Jeremy," Aelita says grimly. I feel another rocking and see a Nav Skid fall to the hangar floor.

"Welp, guess Yumi won't be going on any more missions anyway," I comment.

"EMP!" Aelita shouts. The Skid releases a shock and I hear a roar as Ulrich falls to the floor of the hangar. The Tarantulas start firing and Aelita activates the Skid's shield.

"Don't hang around. Let's get out of here!" I advise.

"First, we have to make sure they won't follow us," Aelita replies. She activates the Skid's twin guns and opens fire while lifting off. Ulrich blocks all the lasers with his swords but the Tarantulas are all easily killed. We finally leave the dome of Carthage and dive into the Digital Sea.

"XANA must know about our plans," Jeremy realizes. "We'll have to be quick with this mission. There's no telling what else he could be planning."

"The sooner the better," William groans. "I don't like the Digital Sea at all."

"Is it because you can't swim, Pretty Boy?" I tease.

"Very funny, Odd."

"Quit bickering, you two," Aelita scolds as we enter a hub. We pop out into another part of the Digital Sea with more of the upside-down skyscrapers than the last part.

"Almost there," Jeremy says. "Just follow the coordinates and it should be straight ahead."

"I wonder what the world is going to look like," William remarks.

"Who knows? At least we don't have to go back to that castle again," I answer.

"Guys, we have a big problem," Aelita says suddenly. I look up and see that the Digital Sea has turned red. "I'll send you two out. Just be quick and clean everything up and we can get there."

"Aye aye, captain!" I shout, saluting.

"Nav Skids away," Aelita says, and I feel my ship disconnect from the Skid. I push down all the way on the thrust and zoom off into the sea.

"Jeremy, what do we have on the platter tonight?" I call.

"Two Sharks and two Kongres," he replies. "Just get rid of them quickly like Aelita said." I see the first Kongre on my radar and move my eyes on the screen, targeting it. I fire and the torpedo strikes it dead-on before it has a chance to move. I hear another explosion in the distance.

"This isn't that hard after all," William comments.

"Two down, two to go!" I shout. I'm about to take a glance at the radar again when I see another monster in front of me. I fire and it dodges both of my torpedoes. It keeps coming at me and I dive to avoid the crash. As it zooms off I catch a closer look and see that it's actually a ship. "Jeremy, what was that?" I yell.

"I think it's Ulrich!" he gasps. "He's headed for the Skid, not for you two. Whatever you do, don't let him attack!"

"He's gotten clingier than you, Will," I remark.

"Shut up," he growls, and we both head back to the Skid.

"No!" Aelita orders. Ulrich's ship is firing at the Skid and while the shield is blocking most of the lasers, it's starting to fade. "I'll handle this. Take care of the other two monsters or they'll all start attacking the Skid."

"Yes ma'am," we say simultaneously and zoom off to find them again. I locate the Shark on my radar and chase after it. It turns around and fires a torpedo from its ugly mouth as I fire one as well. The two collide and explode in the sea. I fly in closer and bomb it with another one, destroying it. I see William and the Kongre flying around each other, dodging each other's fire. I fly after the Kongre, locking on with my eyes. I press down and the torpedo shoots out, ramming straight into the Kongre.

"Another kill for me," I say. "You're lacking on the Lyoko stats."

"Let's head back and help," William says, ignoring me. We fly back and see that Aelita's shield is almost gone. Ulrich's ship pelts it with endless rounds of laser fire, and it's quick enough to avoid the return fire from the Skid.

"Hey, you lame brain! Over here!" I shout, and fly towards Ulrich's ship.

"Odd, what are you doing?!" Aelita shouts. I fire a torpedo at the last second before pulling sharply up to avoid colliding. Ulrich's ship dives down and then takes after me.

"I'm coming, Odd!" William says and flies after us as well. He fires a torpedo and Ulrich's ship dodges out of the way, making it head straight for me. I dive down and just avoid being hit.

"Your aim is terrible!" I shout. I start doing barrel rolls with my Nav Skid, trying to confuse Ulrich.

"Odd, you're almost out of power!" Jeremy shouts. "Either get this done quick or get back to the Skid!"

"I'm on it," I promise. I fly like crazy, going between the pillars and in every which direction. Ulrich starts firing at me and I take a few hits, making an alarm go off in the Nav Skid. "Come on," I say, gritting my teeth. I reduce the power in my shield and increase it to the other areas of the ship. Making a sharp pull upward, I make a loop back and shoot a torpedo at Ulrich's ship right as it's turning, making it explode.

"Nice one, Odd," Jeremy compliments. "Now get back to the Skid." I oblige and we both dock back on the Skid.

"That was impressive, Odd," Aelita says.

"No sweat!" I say, leaning back in my chair. "Ulrich might be the better fighter, but I will always be the better pilot, Galactic Fighters or Nav Skids!"

"Is he lost?" William questions.

"Probably not," Jeremy says. "More likely XANA will just rematerialize him somewhere on Lyoko." Aelita reaches the floodgate and hacks the lock, allowing the Skid to enter. We emerge from the Digital Sea and I see a walled world like Xavier's castle. Only this one seems less sinister and Aelita's able to pilot the Skid over the wall.

"Well, will you look at that," Jeremy remarks.

"What?" William asks.

"There's a structure similar to a tower on Lyoko. It looks more primitive though. I'm guessing that's how we'll access the supercomputer." Aelita flies the Skid over to it and I observe the world. It's got buildings, decorations, and even streets…almost like the real world. It was the first world we'd seen that was based on an inhabited environment.

"So Einstein, have you realized our little problem?" I bring up as Aelita docks the Skid perfectly next to the tower.

"What's that?"

"We don't have enough people. Either only one person guards the Skid or Aelita goes alone."

"Oh shoot! You're right!" I roll my eyes at Jeremy's surprise.

"I'll go alone," Aelita says firmly. "The Skid is the only connection to the real world. We'll need both Odd and William to defend it or else the mission will be cut short."

"But it's too dangerous!" Jeremy says, panicking. "And if you don't make it the whole mission is toast!"

"Let her go, Jeremy," William says. "Don't worry about it. Odd and I will make sure nothing gets near the Skid, and I trust Aelita to be able to make it." From the confines of my Nav Skid, I imagine Jeremy blushing at the screen and stifle a giggle.

"Thanks, Will," Aelita says charmingly. "Jeremy, I'm ready."

"Don't call me that," he retorts, annoyed.

"Okay. Teleportation. And I'll energize you two." A moment later I appear outside the Skid with Will.

"Man, this thing looks so stupid without two of its Nav Skids!" I remark.

"I don't think it matters how it looks, as long as it works," William says. His sword appears in his hand and he walks around the Skid, looking around.

"This is really boring. This welcoming committee better be on its game," I comment.

"The sooner this is all over, the better."

"Hey, what's up with you? I thought you loved being a hero." He glares at me and I realize I hit a nerve. "Whoops, sorry Will. Didn't mean it like that."

"I lost months of my life to this stupid program," he sighs.

"And you've got years ahead of you!" I exclaim, putting my hand on his shoulder and gesturing with my other hand. "You've gotta have some plans in mind."

"Not really. I just wanna study art. It's easy and I'm good at it."

"There you go! The world is your canvas," I swoon.

"Are you feeling okay?"

"Me?" I say indignantly. "I've never felt better! Listen, everything in life has hope as long as you keep a positive attitude."

"You can say that again," William chuckles. "How many attempts at girls are you up to now?"

"Hmm..." I wonder, starting to count on my fingers.

"I don't actually want to know," William says, quickly waving his hands.

"Okay. But who's had the hots for you, Pretty Boy?" I ask, smirking.

"Uh, nobody really," he admits. "The only thing most people remember about me now is how my clone acted."

"I'll bet you're still disappointed a certain Glamorous Geisha didn't."

"What are you talking about?" he exclaims. "That was a long time ago."

"Old feelings die hard, Will."

"Mine died!"

"Uh-huh. Sure." I grin at him squirming uncomfortably.

"Okay, fine. But I'm different than I was back then. I'm only forgetting it because I respect her too much. If she's happy I'm happy."

"You're really an ass, Will. Just forget it! There are plenty of Sharks in the Digital Sea."

"What did I do?!"

"Oh nothing. Don't worry about it."

* * *

I arrive in the middle of a city. It doesn't seem to be that busy but there are still people walking around. I quickly duck into an alley, hiding behind a corner. If they saw me in this outfit they would immediately start asking questions.

"Jeremy? Where am I?" I ask.

"It seems like you're in France. In Normandy, to be exact."

"Any idea where this supercomputer is located?"

"Hold on, I'll localize it." I sit for a few moments while he works. "Okay, got it. It should be in the abandoned building a few blocks down from here."

"And how am I supposed to get there?" I ask. "There's people everywhere."

"Be resourceful, Aelita." I nod and begin looking for a back door in the building I'm in. I find one and it's unlocked. I step through and smell the fragrance of chowder and fresh-baked bread. _I must be in a restaurant. Odd would really love to be here._ I sneak through a back passageway, leading to another door. I open it and it leads me to another building. _These buildings must all be designed the same way._

"How far away am I, Jeremy?" I ask.

"It should be the next building after this one," he replies. I sneak through a long line of dumpsters, cringing at the stench. I finally arrive in front of an old, dilapidated complex with the paint peeling off the walls.

"How do I get in?"

"Hm…there's only one door. And it faces the street."

"Fantastic. I'll be noticed as soon as I step foot into the street!"

"Unless…" I can picture Jeremy thinking at the keyboard. "Maybe you could get in through the back. With your Energy Fields."

"Won't it be suspicious if they find a huge hole in the wall?"

"It's our last mission, Aelita. Besides, nobody has touched this building for a while, it seems like." I sigh and light up both my hands with the now-yellow Energy Fields. I combine them and slowly press them to the concrete of the wall. They burn slowly but surely through it, until I cut a hole that I can fit through. I yelp and catch the slab of concrete and place it gently on the ground.

"Good going, Aelita. Let me locate the supercomputer." I explore around the building as he does. The only way to reach the top floors are stairs and it seems to be some kind of abandoned office building. "Aelita, the computer is located on the uppermost floor. I can't tell where it is on the floor, though," Jeremy says, interrupting my thoughts."

"Roger." I begin climbing the stairs until I reach the top floor. It's just a single hallway that runs from end to end. "Jeremy, where's this supercomputer supposed to be located?"

"Not sure. Try checking around the floor to see if there's anything suspicious. I'm picking up too strong of a signal for it not to be here." I oblige and start pressing my hands against the walls, searching for something out of the ordinary. I feel the floor as well. Nothing strange on any of the floor. The only thing weird was the fact there was literally nothing on the floor.

"Jeremy, what else could there be?" I ask.

"I don't know. The ceiling?" he suggests. I activate my wings and fly up. It's a cramped space but I manage. I feel a loose piece of the ceiling but can't pull it out.

"Jeremy, there's a loose piece here but nothing else. What should I do?" I report.

"Oh, let's just bust it." I nod and summon another Energy Field, burning through and revealing a hole. I reach around with my hand and grab a lever, pulling it. I hear a click and a part of the wall begins to move. Deactivating my wings, I drop down and watch as the ceiling moves to reveal a room.

"Wow," I breathe. I walk in and see the computer. It's small and nothing to write home about, yet I feel like it emanates endless power…I put my fingers to the keys and immediately start searching for the data. Even though the computer is completely foreign, I feel a sense of ease and comfort. I quickly locate the data and start sending it.

"I'm getting the data," Jeremy says. He then pauses for a moment. "Aelita, how do you feel?"

"Taken away," I whisper. I watch as the bar creeps closer to completion. It finally beeps and I shut the computer down.

"I've got everything," Jeremy says quietly. "I'll bring you back in."

I reopen my eyes and I'm back at the Skid's controls.

"Good to see you again, Princess," Odd exclaims. "Any trouble with the computer?"

"Oh, uh, not at all," I reply.

"That's a shame. XANA left us alone too! Luckily Will was here to keep me company."

"Whatever," William snorts.

"Aelita," Jeremy says. "You're going to have to fly back to Sector 5. From there, head to the tower." I nod and disconnect the Skid from the tower. I look at the walls of the world as we fly over and can't help but think that they're imbued with the same energy that the computer was…a field of protection, of strength.

"Can't help but feel uneasy about XANA," William comments. "Why'd he leave us alone for once?"

"Who knows?" Odd responds. "Maybe he was out to dinner." Nobody laughs at his joke and he lets out a whine. Finally, we arrive in the Skid hangar and I dock the once-regal Skidbladnir for hopefully the last time. Jeremy energizes us and we appear on our transporter spots.

"No time to waste, you three," Jeremy says. "Get a move on it." We run to the elevator and it takes us to the part of Carthage with the tower. Even Odd and William have realized the gravity of the situation and have stopped talking, instead following my lead. We reach the tower and it's glowing a warm green, indicating Jeremy's use.

"Jeremy?" I say uncertainly. I take an uneasy step forward.

"Go on," he urges. I step through the tower and slowly walk towards the center, immediately floating up once I stand in position. I land on the upper deck with the interface. "I'm going to combine the data now," Jeremy says softly. "Aelita, you're going to control it from the tower."

"Roger." My hands tremble as I touch the interface, moving data around and combining things as Jeremy instructs. The process seems to both go on forever and finish in a matter of seconds. The button to finish appears on the interface. Without hesitation, I press it.

A white line runs around the interface and then disappears, prompting the interface to disappear as well.

"Here goes nothing," Jeremy says grimly. A brilliant white light begins to shine from the top of the tower, shooting straight through the center of both platforms. I cover my eyes with my arm, and feel the warmth of the pulsating beam. Finally the beam stops and I lower my arm. Laying on the center of the platform is a man who looks in his late 40s. He has graying hair and is dressed in clothes that feel laughably out of place on Lyoko, an olive-colored sweater and khakis. Glasses with dark shades rest on his face. I see him start to stir and cover my mouth. I step ever closer, trying to get a better look. A virtual avatar, yet still feeling out of place. He suddenly sits up and I extend my hand, helping him up. He looks dazed and out of energy, yet still emits a calming presence. I'm thoroughly shaking as I look into his eyes.

"Daddy?"


	29. Chapter 29: The Fight for Eternity

**This chapter is probably more incoherent and confusing than it should be, also as usual I haven't edited anything so mechanics and stuff might be an issue to. Don't hate me if I forget a line break somewhere :( The penultimate chapter is among us. Song below is "Complicated" by Avril Lavigne. POV goes...Yumi, Jeremy, Yumi, Aelita, Yumi, Ulrich, Jeremy, Ulrich, Jeremy. Enjoy, and review!**

* * *

 _But you've become…_

 _Somebody else 'round everyone else  
You're watching your back like you can't relax  
You're tryin' to be cool  
You look like a fool to me  
Tell me…_

 _Why do you have to go and make things so complicated?  
I see the way you're  
Acting like you're somebody else, gets me frustrated  
And life's like this you,  
You fall and you crawl and you break and you take what you get and you turn it into  
Honesty, you promised me I'm never gonna find you fake it  
No, no, no_

I tap pause on my iPod and take my headphones out, gazing out the window. The cherry blossom tree is in full bloom and it's a great day out. _What a fitting song,_ I think to myself. _Complicated. Just imagine. "Sum up your relationship in one word."_ I take a deep breath and get up from my desk. Today's the big day. And not a day too late, either. We'd wrapped up exams and graduation was in a week. Jeremy had managed to virtualize Hopper on Lyoko about a week ago, and he'd been working nonstop with him ever since. The mood in our group had changed. Once despair and possibly even hopelessness, we were all now feeling quietly confident and somber. This was it. The final charge. Take it or leave it. Win or go home. The fate of the world.

I smile wistfully as I tell my parents I'm going out for a walk. I run to the park quickly, contemplating the situation. I was ready to forgive him and try to work everything out, but I would also be on guard if he didn't think the same way (probably the case). _So this is what it's come to. Five years of back and forth, good and bad, ups and downs._ I swallow hard and put my negative feelings under. The task was to try to bring him back. No use in antagonizing him. As I speed through the sewers on my skateboard, I ruminate on my school years. Lyoko had turned my world upside down ever since that one fateful afternoon in the gym with Ulrich. Two years of playing superhero and danger, followed by three years of trying to be "normal", and finally the full circle of XANA returning. The friendships, adventures, tragedies. All together. Inseparable.

I arrive at the Lab and find Odd already there with Jeremy. They're looking at the screen intensely for some reason.

"Hey guys, what's so exciting?" I ask as I walk over.

"Einstein here was just going over the plan for us two," Odd says. "You wanna fill her in?"

"Sure thing," Jeremy replies, turning to me. He has dark circles under his eyes and his hair is untidy and longer than usual. "Working with Hopper over the past week has produced exponential progress. If everything goes well today, we can achieve all of our objectives."

"Which are?" I question, raising an eyebrow.

"One, to destroy XANA for good," Jeremy says, counting off fingers. "Two, to bring Ulrich back. Three, to bring Hopper back."

"And you have a solution for all three?"

"Hopper and I have completed the plan for beating XANA. It's essentially unchanged from before. As for bringing him back, he's given me the codes so I can develop the special Code Earth program for him. And you two will be responsible for completing Objective 2."

"Great, so what's the plan?"

"Well, I have to say that before we start, you two will be going in relatively unarmed. I've had to remove some of the upgrades and weapons to generate more power for all the programs. So Yumi, you'll only have the staff I've programmed you, and Odd, your Laser Arrows and Shield."

"No claws?" Odd groans. "No fair!"

"Relax. You still have teleportation. And Yumi, telekinesis."

"It's gonna be weird without my fans for once," I mutter.

"You can worry about that later. Hopper and I have developed an advanced radar that can detect the clones that XANA sends as well as Ulrich. I'll virtualize you two in Sector 5, and whenever he pops up I'll triangulate his position and send you your vehicles. I'll have to devirtualize them as well once you get to wherever he is."

"And then what?" I ask. "He's still connected to XANA. Even if we devirtualize him he'll just go back to him."

"Right, I was getting to that. You need to protect Odd at all costs. He doesn't have his claws for this mission so the only way he can attack is with Laser Arrows. But I've uploaded the program for severing XANA's connection into the first Laser Arrow. So make sure Odd doesn't get devirutalized, and distract him long enough that Odd can get an opening. After that, devirtualize him."

"I feel like this is easier said than done," I groan.

"It's our last mission. Give it all you've got," Jeremy encourages, and turns back to the computer screen and puts his headset on. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got to put the finishing touches on the Core energy program." I glance at Odd, who seems to be a little stiffer than usual.

"Guess you're the lucky shot today," I remark.

"Oh, I don't know," he says and sounds a little upset. "Lot of pressure, you know? I've only got one shot to bring our friend back. Literally." I nod in understanding. Even Odd wasn't his usual loose self.

"What do you think will happen after this?" I wonder. "With our lives, I mean."

"Who knows. I'm ready to be done," he proclaims. I look at him in surprise.

"You? Done? I thought you loved Lyoko."

"I do. But it just takes so much from you. It's like stuffing yourself at a buffet and then being in pain for the rest of the night." I chuckle at his food analogy. "Two years of junior high, fine. Nothing really happens anyway so it's nice to have something to spice up your life. But these past few months? Just not the same, Yumes. I try to have fun but it usually just ends up that I'm getting shot at and that's not enjoyable."

"Now you know how I feel," I laugh. "And don't call me Yumes."

"Why not?"

"It's just a terrible nickname. Even Glamorous Geisha is better."

"You got it, miss!"

* * *

I carefully listen to Hopper's instructions as I prep the various programs on the screen. It'd been a real treat to work with him the last week. He knew so much more about…everything. He'd been staying in the tower on Sector 5 since he was unarmed and I needed the data. I'd gotten barely three hours of sleep a night over the past week developing everything. And deep down, I was also happy for Aelita. She'd been happy to see him again but somber that now was not the time to spend time with him and catch up. But the mere fact that Hopper was with us, after his presumed death, was enough to make everyone a little happier.

"Always prepare for the unexpected," Hopper advises, interrupting my thoughts.

"Of course, sir. I've triple checked that all the code is typed right and everything is running."

"Yes, that's good, but it's not what I meant, Belpois." I push my glasses up and stare at his face on the screen, always the same expression of thoughtfulness. "XANA is an adaptable program. We may think our plan is failproof, but that type of thinking was what allowed XANA to evolve its behavioral program in the first place."

"I'll keep my eyes peeled," I promise. "Oh, and, sir, I don't mean to bother you but…what exactly is going to happen once we bring you back to Earth?" For the first time since I saw the picture of him and Aelita, I see him smile.

"I will take care of everything, Jeremy. I'm already eternally grateful to you all for continuing this fight."

"Sir, please. I've made a ton of mistakes, and my ideas haven't always worked out…" I feel myself beginning to blush.

"No matter what happens today, we have done our best against a formidable foe," Hopper says, his voice booming. I feel a little more comforted by that.

I feel a light tap on my shoulder and turn to see Aelita. Behind her, William is talking with Odd and Yumi about who-knows-what.

"Do you mind if I have a word with my father?" she asks gently.

"Go right on ahead," I say, handing her the headset. She waves excitedly to him on the screen.

"I'll be coming soon, Daddy," she promises. Some more words are exchanged and then she hands the headset back to me. I close the Hopper screen, clear my throat and wait for everyone to look at me.

"Is everyone ready?" I ask nervously. They all nod their heads solemnly. "Let's go over the plan one last time. Aelita and William will head into Carthage. Aelita will activate the program along with her father's help from the tower, which will expose the Core's energy into the open for XANA's taking. William will stay at the Core to report on progress. Hopefully as soon as XANA arrives in the Core, Aelita will activate the next program which will trap him on Lyoko. Then the finishing touch is to launch the Multi-Agent System. Meanwhile, Yumi and Odd will try to free Ulrich from XANA and even if he's unwilling he'll be brought back to Earth. When Hopper is done helping, I'll materialize him immediately with the new Code Earth program."

"Couldn't be clearer, Einstein," Odd says, jerking a thumb up. The others all seem to be deep in thought.

"Well, this is it," William finally says.

"I just wanted to say," Aelita begins. "We've all gone through a lot. Our own struggles, our near-deaths on Lyoko, the adjustment of balancing these two lives. And hopefully today we write an ending to this book. Today, we turn all of this to history."

"Couldn't have said it better myself, Aelita," Yumi compliments. "Follow her lead, Lyoko Warriors. We'll do this together."

"Let's break it down!" Odd yells, clearly hyped up by everything now. He puts a hand in the center and we form a circle. "Together on three! One, two, three…" I smile and make room to put my hand in.

"Together!"

* * *

"Scanner, Yumi. Scanner, Aelita. Scanner, Odd. Transfer, Yumi. Transfer, Aelita. Transfer, Odd. Virtualization!" A moment later I land on the Eye of XANA of Sector 5 with Odd and Aelita next to me. I get chills as my boots clank against the metallic floor. I haven't been here in so long... William lands next to me, interrupting my thoughts.

"Okay, everyone," Jeremy says, his voice booming. "We're all going different ways. Get to the elevator and Aelita will get off to go to the tower. You three will be heading to the interface wing. William will head off on the Overbike to the Core of Lyoko, and Yumi and Odd will wait until I locate Ulrich."

"Sounds like a plan, Einstein," Odd remarks. We run to the elevator and get on as it takes off.

"You two better get Ulrich back quick," Aelita remarks. "I overheard Sissi talking about him in the cafeteria today."

"Huh? Why does that matter?" I ask.

"She was talking about how Delmas was getting angry calls from Ulrich's parents. They're threatening to sue for damages if it gets out of hand. They're convinced the academy has done something to Ulrich."

"It's just that stupid clone," Odd groans. "I can attest to that. Every time the clone picks up he says something stupid like 'Why don't you worry about YOUR grades?' and then I hear his dad yell and hang up. Even the real Ulrich wouldn't dare be that disrespectful. And wait until you have to hear him snore-"

"We get it, Odd," I interrupt. "We'll try to bring him back quick as possible. He's in the rest of this mess by himself, though."

"Yeah, at least with me I was able to do some damage control," William remarks.

"One thing's for sure, I don't think Sissi's attracted to him anymore," Aelita chuckles. "The clone's personality is like a combination of Jeremy and William's clones. He's a huge flirt, extremely rude, and dumb at the same time."

"Try rooming with him," Odd grumbles again. The elevator stops at a hallway and Aelita gets off.

"Good luck, Princess," I say, raising a thumbs up.

"Good luck to you all as well," she says, smiling. She waves as the elevator takes off and I see her running for the tower.

"So Will, ready to be Jeremy's walkie-talkie?" Odd comments.

"I suppose you could put it that way," he replies.

"Odd, concentrate," I admonish. "Let William do his job and we'll do ours."

"Okay, Yumes, whatever you say."

"Can you not call me that?" I ask, glaring at him.

"Whoops. Bad habit," he says, grinning cheesily. The elevator arrives at the interface and we step outside to the edge of Carthage.

"Okay. William, I'm sending you the Overbike. Get to the southern pole of the sector and enter the Core from there."

"I'm on it," he replies, hopping on. "Uh, good luck, you guys."

"You too," I say, waving.

"You know, if that old motorcycle can fly, then why does Ulrich still ride it on the ground all the time?" Odd questions. "The questions of life that will never be answered."

"Guys, I'm almost done triangulating Ulrich's position," Jeremy says, interrupting. "I'm materializing your vehicles and I'll open up a tunnel. But once you get to your destination I'll have to devirtualize them."

"Better hurry up," I mutter. I see three lumps emerging in the fabric of the dome surrounding Carthage. "We've got company."

"Oh, great!" Odd moans. "And I can't shoot at them either!"

"And I have no fans," I realize.

"I'm almost done. Try to hold them off. You just have to defend yourselves long enough for me to finish."

"Shield!" Odd yells, jumping in front of me as the fully-hatched Mantas start firing. I pull out my staff and grasp it, admiring the piece of work Jeremy programmed. I extend it and it becomes blades on both ends that I use to deflect the lasers.

"Finished!" Jeremy announces. "Desert sector. I'm bringing up your vehicles and I'll open up a tunnel." I see the Overwing materialize next to the platform and jump on, deflecting lasers with my staff in my other hand. We zoom towards the tunnel and I'm engulfed by the bits of data pushing me towards our destination. I see the platform and fly around it, popping out of the tower and landing in the desert.

"All set, accounted for, done!" Odd remarks as he lands next to me.

"Say goodbye to your vehicles," Jeremy replies. "Ulrich should be at the opposite edge of the sector."

"So it totally made sense that you led us to this end of the sector," I say sarcastically.

"Sorry, it was the best I could do. Anyways, you'd better get a move on it." We start sprinting towards the tower at the edge, weaving through the rocks and canyon. Odd runs on all fours and I sprint as fast as I can. "You guys are close now, you should see the tower once you exit the canyon." We run out to the tower and suddenly there he is. His back turned, he notices us and turns around. He's no longer wearing the hood and mask.

"Ulrich," I say gently. He's looking down and avoiding making eye contact, either because of shame or anger. I don't know.

"What do you want?" he growls.

"I can help you. _We_ can help you," I urge.

"Yeah, we really miss you here," Odd adds nervously. I can tell he's trying to get in good position for the shot.

"I don't care," he says, suddenly lifting his head up. "Don't help me."

"Don't push us away," I plead. "I understand your pain. We care about you, Ulrich. Not XANA. We're the ones who can help you with your emotions. Your confusion."

"It's too late," he mutters.

"What?"

"It's too late," he repeats, more forcefully. "You can't help me now." He unsheathes both swords and glares at me. I see pain and regret in his eyes.

"So be it," I say softly. "We'll have to do this the hard way." I pull out my staff, extending it and twirling it. He charges and I flip over him, quickly deflecting his blows with the staff.

"Yumi!" Jeremy shouts, panicking. "Whatever you do, don't devirtualize him now!"

"Don't worry, I'm not even close," I grunt. _What is Odd doing?_ I wonder. I glance around for a split second and see him some distance away, trying to aim at Ulrich. Unfortunately, I let my guard down and Ulrich's blade hits my hand. I howl out in pain and drop the staff.

"Yumi, you just lost 50 life points," Jeremy reports.

"That's not my worry," I reply. I see Ulrich Super Sprinting over to Odd, who now looks like a deer in headlights.

"Odd!" I yell. He teleports out of the way at the last second. I pick up my staff and rush over, blocking Ulrich's next slash with the end of the staff. "Odd, get out of here, quick!" He obliges and flips backwards away from us.

"So this is what it's come to?" Ulrich asks bitterly as we're locked.

"I wouldn't expect you to understand," I reply. "Knucklehead." I break the deadlock and kick him in the chest, sending him flying away. I rush over and aim for his hands with the staff. I knock one of his swords out of his hands and jump to avoid the slice from the other blade. He pushes against my staff, his strength overwhelming me as he easily gets back up. I push harder and manage to keep him from gaining more ground. "Odd!" I yell. "Now!" Ulrich tries desperately to break the lock but he only has one blade left. Odd runs closer and aims his wrist.

"Sorry to do this to you, good buddy."

* * *

I step through the walls of the tower and once again find myself in familiar territory. Only this time, I feel uneasy in my stomach as I walk up to the platform. I hadn't been allowed to see my father ever since we rescued him. I'd hugged him tightly for that one brief moment, and then he urged me to leave to let them prepare. They'd both gotten extremely secretive over the past week, and I could tell Daddy had lost a bit of the energy he once had. I reach the top platform and he's waiting for me, unchanged from when I last saw him on Lyoko.

"Hello, Daddy," I greet. He smiles.

"Hello, Aelita. Come, let's not waste any time." He starts moving data around on the interface and I watch as the programs download and start to run.

"Jeremy, are you sure this will work?" I ask nervously.

"Positive. Once I activate the Core it'll start emitting pulsations that should attract XANA. Then, I'll spring the trap and launch the multi-agent system."

"What about you, Daddy?" I say, turning to him. "Will the new Code Earth work?"

"It will, my dear," he promises. "But I will have to stay here to run all the programs to completion. You will be responsible for inputting the code." I nod in understanding. I take a look at the interface and see one program loaded, and another program slowly progressing.

"Daddy? I thought there were three programs we had to use. Why are there only two on the screen?"

"Oh, erm…I'm uploading the third one right now, of course," he says quickly. I raise an eyebrow. I didn't think he would hide anything from me, but…

"Don't worry about it Aelita," Jeremy adds quickly. "Just trust us." Strange. It wasn't like either of them to be like this.

"Aren't you still linked to XANA?" I ask, suddenly changing the subject. "You said in your note that XANA kept your data alive so he could return as well."

"Not anymore," he explains. "Since I also hold the Keys to Lyoko, as long as we were connected, I was always able to inhibit his progress. Once he gathered enough power to be able to return to Lyoko, he released me in order to become more powerful himself."

"Like the manipulation tactics," I realize. "And the new monsters."

"Yes. He's also become even more intelligent. His behavioral programs have advanced and he's started to strategize more intelligently."

"He took Ulrich," I say quietly. "But Yumi and Odd are doing everything they can."

"Ah, yes. Your friend Stern," he says, stroking his chin. "He seems to be a brave warrior."

"You're not mad at him, are you? He's a bit emotionally unstable. And XANA preyed on him when it was the worst…"

"It is unfortunate that he took the wrong side. But it was my fault to begin with that all this even exists," he says, waving his hands in the air. I nod and look around the walls of the tower, waiting for the signal from Jeremy.

* * *

As soon as the Laser Arrow hits Ulrich I leap back next to Odd. Ulrich yells in pain and we see a red and black shadow begin to emerge from his body. It forms a large cloud in the air, and then dissipates into nothing.

"What did you do?!" he yells.

"Cut the cord with Mr. Doom and Gloom," Odd says, pretending to blow the smoke off a gun. "Now you'll come with us, right?"

"Odd, he's not possessed," I remind. "All we've done is made it possible for him to come back to the scanners."

"Triplicate," Ulrich says coldly, and two more clones appear.

"Well, guess he's not in a better mood," Odd says glumly.

"Attack," Ulrich orders, and all three of them rush at us. One of them comes at me and I block his sword with the staff, parrying and countering with kicks as well. I hear a cry out and glance over to see the other two Ulrichs surrounding Odd as he fades away.

"Odd, no!" I yell. I swing upwards with one end of the staff, knocking the blade out of the hands of the Ulrich I'm facing. I stab straight into his chest and he fades immediately. _Okay, not that one._ The other two Super Sprint over and I brace myself. They slash furiously and I deflect the blows, but it pushes me towards the edge of the sector. I swing towards one of the Ulrichs and he dodges out of the way as I feel my staff ripped out of my hands. The other Ulrich sneers and tosses the staff over the edge.

"Fusion," Ulrich commands and the other clone merges back into him. He holds his sword to my throat as I back away, only to realize I'm backing towards the edge.

"Ulrich, don't do this," I beg. "You're better than this. This isn't you."

"Shut up, Yumi!" he roars. I swear he's on the verge of tears, if that was possible on Lyoko. I see a shadow suddenly appear behind him and gasp. He turns around and clenches his fist. The Ulrich clone materializes out of the shadow and smiles evilly.

"I see you have made the most of your second chance," he says in a deep, robotic voice. "Now, finish this and we will complete this journey together." Ulrich closes his eyes, and then opens them and points the sword at me again.

"I'm sorry," he says simply.

"You don't have to do this, Ulrich!" I protest. "You're not connected anymore. Don't listen to him!" His eyes flare up and he grits his teeth.

"This is the end," he declares, raising his sword above his head.

"Ulrich," I say, choking up. "I love you."

* * *

As soon as she says those words I step back. It's like an emotional trigger. It hits me like a thousand Megatanks rolling over me. Memories flood back in, the ones I'd been trying to put away for so long.

 _The first day._

 _"You're-you're, Yuri, right?" She sweeps my legs and I fall to the ground, hard._

 _"It's Yumi."_

 _The diary._

 _"One day, Yumi, I'll tell you everything in this diary," I say, smiling._

 _"I'd like that," she replies, smiling equally as wide._

 _The near-kiss._

 _"Uh, Yumi…be careful," I stammer, just before heading out._

 _"You too, Ulrich," she replies sadly. A few minutes later I save her from falling into the Digital Sea._

 _"Ulrich, you-" she gasps and my eyes widen as she falls on me. Our eyes lock and I slowly move towards her face, waiting for her lips…_

 _The trap._

 _"Go ahead, I won't look," I mutter, sweating profusely. She takes her shirt off, revealing a plain bra underneath. I can't help but sneak a look, and I immediately turn away to hide my blush as the temperature gets even hotter._

 _The school dance._

 _"So…you're not at the dance with Sissi?"_

 _"I…don't like dancing. Even less with Sissi." She lets out a little laugh but quickly returns to her usual stoic face. "I-uh, wanted to tell you something," I let out nervously. My phone starts ringing._

 _"Aren't you going to get that?" she asks. I despair internally and curse whoever's calling me. After answering the call from Jeremy I nod towards Yumi and she understands._

 _The devastation._

 _"Just friends and that's all?" Odd asks. "And then what'd you say?"_

 _"I said, 'okay, fantastic'," I grumble._

 _"'Okay, fantastic'?!" Odd says in disbelief. "I will never understand you two."_ Neither will I, _I think._

 _The diary, part 2._

 _"This is the perfect opportunity to see what she thinks of you!" Odd encourages, seeing the picture of me in her diary._

 _"Oh no," I retort. "What's in here is none of my business. And don't forget that Yumi and I are just good friends."_

 _"Are you sure?" he asks smugly. I turn around._

 _"Well, actually I'm not sure at all," I admit._

 _The Replika._

 _"By the way, I've been meaning to ask," I say._ This is the worst pickup line ever, _I can hear Odd teasing. "What's your least favorite monster to fight on Lyoko?"_

 _"Kankrelats," she replies, grinning. "I hate big bugs, ew!" I laugh along with her._

 _"I hate Megatanks the most," I admit. "What do you think of the-"_

 _"Kankrelats!" she shouts._

 _"I know, you already mentioned them," I dismiss._

 _"No!" she says, pointing. "Over there!"_

 _Odd's prank._

 _"Okay, who's getting teleported tonight?" Jeremy asks._

 _"I vote Yumi and Ulrich," Aelita says sweetly. "They're good on a mission together."_

 _"No way," she snaps. "I'd rather go on my own than go with_ him _."_

 _"I don't believe this," I mutter to myself. Stupid Odd._

 _Shutting it down-or so we thought._

 _"There'll be plenty of good times, even without Lyoko."_

 _"You promise?"_

 _"I swear."_

 _That fateful night._

 _"I need time to think over it. Would you like to meet tomorrow night?"_

 _"Uh-yeah, sure."_

 _"How does dinner sound?" she asks. "At that new place in the city."_

 _"Uh, yeah, yeah, sure. Is this a date?" I blurt out. She rolls her eyes._

 _"It's whatever you want it to be, Romeo," she remarks sarcastically._

 _"I'll be there," I say._

 _"Good. See you tomorrow." My heart pounds as I watch her walk away._

 _The start of something special._

 _"Good morning, Yumes," I greet, sitting down and giving her a kiss on the cheek. She blushes for a moment and then goes back to her usual self._

 _"What did you just call me?"_

 _"Yumes. Why? Is that bad?"_

 _"That nickname's way too cheesy. Think of a better one."_

 _"No can do, Yumes." She sighs and I grin._

 _My birthday._

 _"I can't believe this," I complain. "What a hypocrite she is."_

 _"Look, she's been pretty busy too. She's year 12, I'm sure college and other stuff is holding her up," Odd reasons._

 _"Yeah, well, that's no excuse," I pout._

 _The first time._

 _"I have one more thing to tell you," she says, coming in closer. The smell of cherry blossom gets stronger and it's a tantalizing feeling to be so close to her. Our lips lock and I close my eyes, taking in the amazing sensation. We break free and she looks into my eyes and I see the happiness, the relief, the fulfillment. "I love you."_

I open my eyes and gasp. I lower my blade and stare at my hands. Yumi opens her eyes as well and lowers her arm, staring at me.

"Finish her!" the clone orders impatiently. "What are you waiting for?" I turn around slowly and meet his eyes. Once the same color as mine, they now flash the Eye of XANA in rage.

"No," I state.

"Insolent fool," the clone says, and raises a hand towards me. I raise an eyebrow as nothing happens. He looks at his hand and roars in frustration.

"Here's your mistake, XANA," I say, walking towards the clone. "You need a connection to keep me loyal to you. Too bad my friends disconnected it, so you can't kill me now. And there's your problem. You get help through fear and manipulation. That's built on distrust. And that doesn't follow the message you told me, does it?" The clone glares at me and unsheathes both its swords. I hold up my single blade and continue. "My friends are here for me. They trust me. When they help, it's unconditional, and I do everything I can to help them back. It's friendship. It's love." I glance back at Yumi, now sitting up. I charge at the clone and we lock swords, my single blade pressing against both of my clone's sabers. "Something you'd never understand."

* * *

"Boy, those Ulrich clones are a handful. Not fun to fight against," Odd proclaims as he walks up to the computer.

"Let's hope Yumi can bring him back," I say grimly.

"How are the others doing?" Odd asks.

"Almost ready to launch the program," I reply. "Everything's downloaded. William, how are things at the Core."

"Normal. I'm standing on the platform right next to it."

"Brace yourself. I'm going to activate the program," I say, typing in keystrokes. "There. Done and activated."

"Jeremy!" William shouts. "Bad news. Some freaks just showed up." I look at the radar and see…four clones!

"William! What are they trying to do?"

"No doubt XANA's caught onto your plan, if you ask me," Odd says.

"Jeremy, do you want me to go to the Core and help out?" Aelita asks, concerned.

"No, you might not be able to make it back. I'd rather you stay to enter the Code for Hopper."

"They're not attacking me, Jeremy," William reports. "They've surrounded the Core."

"No, no, this can't be happening!" I say, grabbing my head. "The other programs aren't ready yet?"

"What do you mean? Shouldn't they all be ready?" Odd asks.

"I had planned for XANA to come once the signal from the Core's energy was powerful enough. I didn't expect the entirety of him to already be there! How did he know this was our plan?"

"Ulrich," Aelita says softly.

"I'm such an idiot," I sigh in despair. "Let me see what I can do."

"Not to worry, Jeremy," Hopper says gently. "The programs are well on their way to being downloaded."

"Yeah, but XANA might be finished by then," I murmur. I then see William approaching the clones on the radar. A life points screen pops up a few seconds later.

"William, you just lost 70 life points!" I say, panicking. "What are you trying to do?"

"I'm saving the world, Jeremy," he replies solemnly. I watch as the energy absorption by XANA slows down and the red arrows surround the single green arrow on the radar.

"That's incredible!" Odd remarks. "He's doing well with them. He hasn't lost any life points since!"

"Let's hope he can keep it up," I answer. I activate the trapping program once I see that XANA is contained on Lyoko, praying for it to work.

* * *

"Yumi, run!" I yell. She nods and gets up, running away from us. The Ulrich clone punches me and I fall to the ground.

"Stupid human," he growls. "Weak from pitiful emotions." He swings his blades down and I block it with my sword again. I kick at his knee and he stumbles backwards, howling. I throw a shuriken and he cuts straight through it with his sword, making it split in half.

"You've lost, XANA," I snap. The clone laughs evilly. He throws a blade and I yelp as it makes impact with my blade, breaking mine.

"Oh, I would love to continue this discussion, but I'm afraid there's a world to be conquered," he laughs. He puts his swords back in their sheaths and becomes smoke again. I crane my head upward and watch as he disappears.

"Jeremy, did you just see that?" I ask.

"Yep. XANA's almost done absorbing all of the Core energy."

"Doesn't that mean Lyoko will be destroyed?" Yumi asks, walking over to me.

"Hopefully we can kill him before we get to that point," Jeremy says. "But your job is done and dusted. Devirtualize each other and get back here."

"Great," I mutter. "XANA destroyed my last blade. And you don't have any weapons left."

"You have those shurikens, don't you?" Yumi asks. I remember and pull one out. "And they explode, too."

"Yumi?" I say suddenly. She looks me in the eyes. I take in her presence, the sleek black and dark pink jumpsuit, the expression of expectancy that I'd grown used to in the real world. "I-I'm sorry. For everything."

"We'll talk about it later," she says, putting a finger to her lips. "Right now, get us out of here." She gives me an encouraging smile and I nod, throwing the shuriken in the air. I focus and make it explode and the impact hits us both. I close my eyes and a moment later I open them as the door opens and Yumi steps out across from me. We head up to the Lab and join Jeremy and Odd. They glance over at me but don't say anything. I hang my head and sit down next to the Holoweb system. It was going to take a while for this one to heal.

* * *

"Jeremy, I can't hold on much longer!" William cries. "XANA's sent some Mantas too!"

"You just need to hold on a little longer for the system to upload," I say. "Everything's set in place."

"The programs are at 95%, Belpois," Hopper reports.

"What's it look like on your end, William?" I ask nervously.

"Trying-to-hold-off-the Mantas!" he grunts. "The clones are back to surrounding the Core."

"Jeremy, Lyoko will be destroyed if XANA absorbs the Core! Activate the multi-agent system!" Aelita shouts.

"It's all part of the plan," I say to myself. "Stick with the plan."

"Einstein, are you talking to yourself?" Odd asks.

"Huh?" I say. "Uh, maybe. So what if I am?" Odd looks at me weirdly and then shrugs.

"The Core is almost totally gone," Yumi says, looking at the screen.

"Right. I just have to wait for the right moment to launch the system," I mutter. Just then William's life points screen flashes, indicating a hit. "William! Are you okay?" I exclaim.

"The Mantas hit me with some kind of red beam," he says, dazed.

"Oh no," Odd says. "Not that one."

"That's the last thing we need right now," Ulrich adds. I watch as William suddenly disappears from the radar and his life points drain to zero.

"The beam causes delayed devirtualization," I murmur. "Ulrich, go check on William in the scanner and see if he's okay." He nods and climbs down the ladder.

"Did you believe you could trap me, Belpois?" a voice booms in my headset. _XANA,_ I realize. "Thank you for being so generous as to open the Core's energy to me. Now not even your puny trap will be able to hold me." I watch the screen as the Core's power drains down to its last reserves.

"Jeremy, the tower's shaking!" Aelita gasps. "Lyoko is collapsing!"

"Mr. Hopper, run the program now!" I yell.

"It's already been done, Jeremy," he replies in an eerily calm tone.

"The multi-agent system will not destroy me, Belpois," XANA cackles. "The Core has made me invincible. Nothing will stop me now."

"No," I say defiantly. "You've just walked into a trap."

"Trap? This is not a trap," XANA dismisses. "You're a fool, Belpois. Just like Hopper before you. Trying to be immortal. Trying to become the perfect computer genius." On the screen, I see the sectors start to disappear. Odd and Yumi gasp as the beeps indicate the destruction of Lyoko as the last of the Core is absorbed. "There's only one true master of the digital world, Belpois," XANA roars. "Me."

"You're wrong, XANA," I say quietly. "I'm the most intelligent 16 year old at Kadic, and possibly in the nation. I've worked this supercomputer for years, doing things adults couldn't dream of. I've programmed so much, spent many sleepless nights combating you, and my friends have fought you all around the world. I'm not trying to be perfect. I don't want to be a master of technology. All this time, I've just been human." I type in the keystrokes and hit Enter. A new program pops up on the screen and starts operating rapidly.

"Jeremy? What did you do?" Yumi asks, confused. I turn to both of them and smile.

"You'll see." I suddenly hear a loud, robotic howl in my headset.

"What have you done, Belpois?!" XANA roars in rage.

"A virus," I say calmly. "Implanted in the Core and made from the same data as the multi-agent system. It'll travel to every single data fragment you have, ensuring that every last line of code is wiped out. You were the one who still fell in the trap, XANA. I realized we could never get rid of you completely from the outside. There was always a chance a fragment would survive, floating in the Digital Sea, until it gained power. But now that the program is inside your code…you're done for."

"NO!" XANA roars. "NOT YET!" The Superscan starts beeping and I open it up, to find that all remaining towers have been activated in each sector.

"Aelita! Enter Code Earth now!" I yell. I watch as she enters the code in the tower and Hopper starts glowing in a bright light.

"We'll head down to the scanners," Yumi says, and Odd takes off with her. The white light stops glowing and only Aelita is left.

"What's he trying to do?" I mutter.

"Jeremy, how am I going to get back?" Aelita screams, interrupting my thoughts.

"Try getting outside the tower and letting something fall on you," I suggest nervously. I hear her gulp and then watch as she exits the tower on the radar. I can see from the visual that it's chaotic outside, as Carthage continues to collapse on itself.

"YOU'RE FINISHED, BELPOIS!" XANA drones mechanically. "YOU AND EVERYONE YOU LOVE!"

"Jeremy, the scanners are all bugged up!" Ulrich says from the scanner room. "The wires are exploding, it's a nightmare! One of them is already busted!"

"Is everyone there?" I yell back.

"Hopper and William are both here, but they're both unconscious," Yumi replies. "And Aelita?"

"Aelita, come on!" I yell. "Hurry!" I watch as she rolls right under a giant piece of the ceiling. Suddenly, a warning appears on my screen. DETONATION IMMINENT. I gasp in horror as the warning takes up all of the screen.

"Guys, we have to get out of here!" I yell. "XANA has sabotaged the supercomputer! He's going to make all the equipment explode!"

"What?!" Odd exclaims in horror.

"Is Aelita there?!" I yell.

"A little shaken up but here," comes the reply. I sigh in relief but my joy is quickly dashed by our situation.

"Get everyone out of here!" I order. "The factory's gonna blow!" I take a last glance at the screen. It suddenly begins to spark and crackle, and smoke starts escaping. I run to the elevator, only to find that the buttons no longer work.

"Jeremy, the elevator doesn't work!" Ulrich says, as if on cue.

"We'll take the long way," I reply, coming down to the scanner room. It's quite a sight. All three of the scanners are now smoking and sparks are flying out of the wires. Everyone's gathered there with panicked looks on their faces. "Follow me!" I shout and open the trapdoor to the sewers. We sprint through the tunnel, Aelita and Yumi carrying Hopper and Ulrich and Odd carrying William. We reach the stairs to the top floor of the factory and head for the stairs up to the bridge. Just as we step foot on the bridge I hear an explosion and we're all thrown off our feet. I fly through the air and land on my hand, hearing a crack and crying out in pain. My glasses fall off and land some feet away. I lay there for a minute and then finally roll over and sit up. The factory begins to collapse and I see a section of the ceiling cave in. Ulrich and Odd get up, Ulrich clutching his ankle and leaning against a tree for support. Amazingly, the explosion was enough to make everyone fly far enough to land on the other side. I watch as flaming debris gathers on the bridge and the bridge creaks as it no longer has a side to connect. Odd and Ulrich push the two unconscious people away from the bridge and help Aelita and Yumi up. The tips of Aelita's hair are singed and everyone's face is covered with a little bit of dust.

"Is-is everyone alright?" I ask after a while. I try to move my hand and a sharp pain shoots through it, making me clutch my wrist.

"Let's see," Yumi says, and checks the pulses of each Hopper and William. "Unconscious, but alive."

"Think I might've sprained an ankle," Ulrich says, wincing.

"Completely fine," Odd says, grinning. "That was cool!"

"No, it was not cool, Odd," I scold. I try to point at him with my right hand but I feel the burning again and cry out.

"Jeremy, what happened to your hand?" Aelita asks, concerned.

"I, uh, landed on it hard," I explain. "Nothing to worry about."

"I think you broke your wrist, Einstein," Yumi corrects. "We'd better get you to the hospital."

"What's that smell?" Odd asks, his nose turning. "Aelita, is that you?"

"Perhaps," she answers. Odd comes over and runs a hand through her hair.

"Your hair's been burnt pretty badly, Princess," Odd says. I hear sirens in the distance and gulp.

"No Return to the Past to save us this time, guys," I say. "Time to face the music."

"We'll do it all together," Aelita says determinedly. I smile, and the five of us all turn in the same direction, towards the street. Ulrich balances himself on Yumi's shoulder and I go on the end to not have to use my hand. We wrap arms around each other's shoulders, bracing ourselves for what was to come next.

* * *

 **Next chapters to come probably this week, at the latest it'll take a week and a half.**


	30. Chapter 30: Memories

**A/N: We made it! Almost. Tried to incorporate everybody's POV into this final chapter. Aelita, Jeremy, Ulrich, Odd, Yumi, Ulrich. It's a wrap, y'all. Read and review!**

* * *

"A supercomputer that projects a virtual world. And you kids go into this world to fight an evil virus called XANA, and it just destroyed the old abandoned factory," the officer recounts. We're all sitting in an office at the police station, my father and William still unconscious.

"Yes, I know it sounds ridiculous, but you have to believe us," Jeremy protests. "It's the only explanation we have."

"Young man, I think you've been reading too many comic books," the officer says gravely. "I'm going to have to keep you here for further interrogation."

"And then what'll happen?!" Odd exclaims. "Not prison!"

"It depends. Certainly terrorism charges are unlikely, since you attacked an abandoned factory…"

"But we didn't attack it!" Jeremy retorts. "We couldn't be terrorists! We're all minors!"

"Well, almost all of us," Yumi remarks dryly.

"Officer, you should wait until my father wakes up," I say. "He'll be able to explain everything." He glances at me, then to my father, and then nods reluctantly.

"Very well."

"Were you referring to me, dear?" I spin around and see that he's woken up.

"Daddy," I say softly.

"I assume you're the ringleader of these rascals and their shenanigans?" the officer questions. "Tell me once and for all what is going on here. Why did the old abandoned factory blow up just now?"

"Please, slow down, officer," my father says calmly. "And I hope you're not going to be too long with this. These children need to get to a hospital."

"Oh, erm, right-" the officer stammers, embarrassed that he forgot. I remember my singed hair and laugh to myself in amusement. It would be quite a sight. Then I remember that Jeremy probably has a broken wrist and Ulrich's limping, and my amusement fades.

"Listen to me very carefully," my father says slowly. "It is best you do not associate yourself with us any further. What do these words mean to you: Project Carthage?"

"Um," the officer mutters.

"Look it up on your system, see what you find," my father advises. The officer obliges and types something into the computer. His eyes then widen and he turns pale. He stares at us all breathlessly.

"Uh-uh…" is the only thing he can let out.

"We would like transportation to the hospital, please," my father says. He vigorously nods his head and calls someone. Ten minutes later we're riding in the back of a van to the hospital.

The four of us wait outside as Jeremy, Ulrich and William are each taken to separate rooms. Daddy sits calmly, as if meditating. Odd makes fun of my singed hair and Yumi sits quietly, deep in thought. Finally the nurse comes out and updates us. The X-rays show that Jeremy has a broken wrist, Ulrich has a mild sprain and William has just woken up.

"I'll go see how Jeremy's doing," I tell the others.

"I'll check on Ulrich," Yumi decides.

"Guess that leaves me with Pretty Boy, huh?" Odd mopes. I chuckle and we get up to go to the rooms. I take a look back at my father.

"Are you coming, Daddy?" I ask.

"I'll stay outside and take care of the logistics," he says, smiling. "I have a feeling this won't be the last hurdle to leap over." I nod and head off to Jeremy's room. I hesitantly knock on the door.

"Come in," a muffled voice replies. I open the door and let myself in.

Jeremy's resting on the bed, his right hand wrapped up in a cast. He notices me and gives me a small smile.

"How does it feel?" I ask, running my hand over his cast.

"It still hurts and I can't really move it," he replies. "The doctor said I couldn't do anything with it for two months. Guess I'll have to learn how to write left-handed."

"Good thing there's no more Lyoko missions to take care of," I joke. "I don't know how you would manage with one hand."

"Lyoko is gone," Jeremy says thoughtfully. I nod in acknowledgment. "And so is the supercomputer. Even if we wanted to go back we can't now."

"But so is XANA," I remind him. "Hopefully for good this time."

"XANA is like a cockroach," Jeremy sighs. "The fact he was able to survive the multi-agent system is already a testament to that."

"The virus was the reason you two were being so secretive," I realize. "But why?"

"I'll explain the whole thing to you later," he says quickly. "Basically, we couldn't have any word of it in case XANA found out. Even when I was working with your father we always referred to it in code."

"Hm," I murmur, thinking.

"I, uh, hope I haven't lost your trust," Jeremy says sheepishly. "I'm just glad it worked."

"Of course not," I reassure him. I give him a kiss on the cheek and he blushes furiously.

"Can we come in?" Yumi says through the door.

"Go on," I reply. The door opens and Yumi and Ulrich walk in. Ulrich's leg is fitted with a boot but he seems to be walking fine.

"So how's our great Einstein doing?" Yumi asks.

"Could be better," Jeremy replies. "But at least it'll heal."

"What about you, Ulrich?" I ask. "How's your ankle feeling?"

"It's fine. It'll take maybe two to three weeks to recover," he dismisses.

"Your team lost in the first round of the playoffs, by the way," Yumi says sarcastically. "Your clone was basically the MVP for the other team." Ulrich turns away, still ashamed. I feel a pang of sympathy and put a hand on his shoulder.

"We can talk about this later," I say softly. "We're just glad you're back with us."

"Yeah, we really did miss you," Jeremy adds.

"D-do you mean it?" he says uncertainly.

"Of course!" Yumi exclaims, giving him a lighthearted slap on the back. The shame from his face fades away and I smile.

"You won't believe this? He doesn't remember anything!" Odd shouts, barging through the door.

"Huh? William?" Jeremy asks.

"Yeah! That beam from the Mantas did him good. He doesn't remember anything about Lyoko! He acts like all this time he was just a normal student!"

"So…what does he remember in place of when he was possessed by XANA? And all the missions?" I ask.

"Only one way to find out," Yumi mutters. The five of us head to William's room, where he's laying down on a bed, staring at the ceiling. He notices us and stares at us strangely.

"What are you five doing here?" he asks. "Will somebody please tell me why I'm in the hospital?"

"You really don't remember anything?" Jeremy questions.

"No!" he snaps. "I didn't know you all were in on Odd's joke! This isn't funny! I want to know why I'm in the hospital, right now!"

"Calm down, William," I plead. "What do you remember from three and a half years ago?"

"What?" he snorts. "I went to school like usual. I was made fun of for some reason, I don't know why."

"And after that?"

"After that I lived a normal life. Why?"

"It seems like the beam caused some severe amnesia," I remark.

"You don't say," Yumi replies sarcastically.

"It's like XANA just filled his empty spots with stock memories of Kadic," I muse.

"Who is XANA?!" William exclaims. We all stare at him and he lays back down, embarrassed.

"We'd better get back to school," Jeremy says. "We've got more of this mess to sort through."

* * *

It turns out the authorities had contacted the school before we got there. We're greeted at the gates by a stern-looking Delmas and Jim with his arms folded.

"Explain the meaning of this, all six of you," Delmas scolds. "And convince me that I shouldn't expel all of you right this moment."

"Please, Mr. Delmas," I beg. "Our explanation won't sound realistic but it's the truth."

"It's not realistic at all!" William butts in. "I wasn't a part of any of this, sir. I just suddenly woke up in the hospital with these five trying to tell some crazy story!"

"I knew something fishy was going on with you five," Jim adds.

"Jean-Pierre, please," a voice says. We spin around and Franz Hopper has joined us. Delmas's eyes widen when he sees him.

"Franz? But-but how?" he stutters.

"Please, try not to act so surprised, Jean-Pierre," Hopper says. "Come now, I will explain everything." He goes with Delmas and Jim awkwardly follows behind. We follow behind the three and awkwardly wait outside the administrative building.

"Later, weirdos," William mutters. He walks back to the dorm without another sound, turning his back.

"Well, his goodbye was not nearly as memorable as his time served," Odd jokes.

"A bit tragic," Aelita comments. "He did a lot for us."

"And also gave us a lot of grief," Yumi adds.

"One thing's for sure, his time was memorable," I say. "Too bad he'll never remember any of it. And he refuses to believe us."

"Too bad the supercomputer's busted, or else you could've brought his clone back," Odd laughs. "And just imagine if the insanity beam had done the same thing to him that it did to Ulrich and me. He would've permanently thought he was on Lyoko!" I shudder at the thought.

"What do you suppose our parents are gonna say?" Ulrich wonders. "Delmas must have already called them."

"Shit, you're right!" Yumi exclaims. "And it's late. Oh no…"

"My parents won't care," Odd says, shrugging. "They're on the road all the time, I didn't get injured, it's all good."

"Lucky you," Ulrich mutters.

"I think my dad might be the only one who would believe us," I say.

"My parent is right there," Aelita remarks. We watch as Hopper returns, with Delmas and Jim following him. He exchanges a few more words with them and then walks back to us.

"I assume you five want answers," he says. We all nod our heads. "That's what I thought. Follow me." We follow him into the woods and end up at the Hermitage. He takes a seat at the table, old but still functional, and we each take our places at the table.

"Daddy?" Aelita starts. "What did you tell everyone that makes them back off all of a sudden?"

"It's a long story, my dear," he replies.

"Does it have something to do with Project Carthage, sir?" I ask.

"Indeed, Jeremy. After XANA destroyed Project Carthage, the agents conceded after their failed attempt to capture me as well as my disappearance. The remaining scientists loyal to the division were separated and told to go into isolation, for fear that their work would be discovered. Professor Xavier chose to take this to the most extreme and set about doing his own work, attempting to find other ways to recreate the power that Carthage once had." He pauses in thought and we wait for him to continue. "After this 'disaster' in their eyes, the project files were deleted and never to be spoken of again, for fear of international retaliation. Of course, at this time XANA had already become autonomous and I had to shut down the supercomputer from inside Lyoko. To this day it is a wonder that you four were the only ones to discover the supercomputer. And that you kept it as well-hidden as before."

"So that's why the officer immediately dropped his interrogation," Aelita realizes.

"Indeed, my dear. Any mention of Project Carthage in the databases alerts the highest authorities, who first monitor the specific instance and then act appropriately. In this case, they probably assumed it was a mistake and gave a strict warning."

"And Delmas?" Yumi asks. "What did you tell him?"

"Jean-Pierre was vaguely aware of the secrets I hid during my time as a schoolteacher here," Hopper replies. "However, he knew better than to ask. He was fairly surprised when I reappeared, to say the least. I convinced him that he was better off sticking to his old routine of not asking, and I also told him to free you all of any punishment."

"That doesn't sound at all like who he is," Odd snorts.

"What was it like being digitized?" I ask, my head still spinning from the new information. "And XANA? How did he come to be autonomous?"

"I will be able to answer those all in due time, Jeremy," Hopper says with a sad smile. "For now, I had better lay low here. I may have to change my identity once more. The Hermitage will do as a temporary resident spot, and Aelita will help me rebuild this house. The rest of you had better get back to your dorms. I'm afraid Jean-Pierre may not have that long of a leash."

"What about my documents?" Aelita asks. "I'm still living here off Jeremy's forged identification documents. It'll wear out its use soon."

"Documents are the least of your worries, dear," Hopper replies, giving a hearty laugh. "Trust me, everything will be taken care of. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to see if I can find some old files upstairs." He leaves the table and heads for the stairs, leaving us staring at one another.

"Well, should we go?" I ask uncertainly.

"I think I'll stay here for a bit regardless," Aelita says. "But I'll come back to the dorm."

"Hold on," Ulrich says. We all turn to him. "I-uh, wanted to apologize. For everything."

"It's alright, Ulrich," Aelita consoles. "We understand."

"No. What I did was…unforgivable. I made a bad decision in the heat of the moment. And then I fought against my friends. I fought for a computer program. It's just…I feel terrible about everything. And I just hope you don't look down on me too much for it." Odd goes and wraps his arm around Ulrich's shoulder.

"We forgive you, good buddy," he says. "That's what friends are for. We've all fucked up, sometimes big, sometimes small. But we've got each other's backs through all of it. What matters most is the good times you get to share with your best buds. So don't worry about it, good buddy. At least now I can say I'm officially the better pilot!"

"Odd's right, you know," Aelita adds, smiling. "Scary as it sounds. But anyways, our friendship that we share is much more meaningful than temptations or mistakes that might test that bond. And we know you're a good person, Ulrich. You came through when it mattered the most."

"We'll always have arguments and disputes," I say. "But what's great about the Lyoko Warriors is they're willing to look past those missteps, no matter what, to pull through for each other."

"It'll be okay, Ulrich," Yumi says finally. "We forgive you." He looks up and gives a small smile to us.

"Thanks, you guys," he says softly. "You're the best friends I could ask for."

"Now, what are you still doing here?" Hopper asks as he comes down the stairs. "It's dark out. You'd better hurry back to the dorms. You too, Aelita."

"We were just having a private moment, Daddy," Aelita says, smiling. "Did you find what you were looking for?"

"I did indeed," Hopper replies. "I'm going to need your help, dear."

"What? What did the files contain?" Aelita asks.

"Whereabouts on your mother," Hopper states. We all gasp. We'd completely forgotten about Anthea.

"You mean…she's still alive?" Aelita stammers.

"Hopefully," comes the reply. "She was kidnapped by the agents that year. They had originally planned to leverage her against me but they realized that she too was a valuable asset and forced her to work with them once again. I can only hope that she's still surviving somewhere."

"I'll come with you," Aelita says determinedly. "We'll find her together."

"No. You should live your life here," Hopper says sternly. Aelita looks at him in surprise. "I've already taken away so much of your life from you, dear." He takes off his glasses, his hand shaking. "And I will never be able to live with that. I've already lived a full life. It's time for you to live yours."

"Are you sure, Daddy?" Aelita asks sadly. Hopper nods his head solemnly.

"I'm glad to be back in this world," Hopper says. "But I'm not the most important person in my life anymore. That's you, Aelita."

"I'll visit you whenever I can," she promises.

"Don't feel the need to," Hopper answers. "Now, you all should really get going before it's too dark to see outside." We nod and all head out of the Hermitage, leaving Franz Hopper to rebuild his home and his old life. I grip Aelita's hand tightly and she leans against me as we walk back to the dorms.

* * *

"So, again, tell me the truth as to why you sprained your ankle. It certainly wasn't from soccer since you've been playing so poorly lately you wouldn't have stretched anything!"

"Dad, if I tell you the truth you won't believe me," I sigh exasperatedly. Odd rolls over on his bed and glances at me. I'd been on the phone with my dad for 20 minutes now. Luckily it didn't seem like Delmas told our parents what exactly happened, just that some of us were injured.

"You had better try," he says sternly.

"Okay, fine," I snap. "I've been fighting an evil computer program in a virtual world for the past five years. All my friends have been doing it too, and we've traveled all over the digital network to do it. This evil program can control electricity which it uses to launch attacks on Earth because it wants to take over the world and every time we stop it by deactivating a tower and launching a Return to the Past so nobody except us remembers it. And we finally destroyed it but not before it took control of the supercomputer and blew up the factory, which made me fly through the air and land awkwardly, spraining my ankle. And that's also why my grades were bad in junior high school. HAPPY NOW?!" I start breathing heavily and Odd looks at me with his jaw wide open. I wait for the inevitable scolding and it doesn't come. I look at the phone screen to make sure he hasn't hung up. Finally, he speaks.

"Listen, Ulrich, I think I may have pushed you too hard during your time at Kadic," my dad admits. "I haven't told you this, but I was beginning to regret some of the things I said to you. All I want for you is the best, and it's clear you're under a lot of pressure from that. I'm sorry for trying to prod the truth out of you, and I think you need some rest. I promise I'll make a better effort to be more positive and encouraging from now on."

"Oh, uh, thanks dad," I mutter uncertainly.

"Finish the year strong, son," he says, and hangs up.

"That was awesome!" Odd yells. Kiwi starts barking and Odd muffles him with a dog treat.

"I guess," I say distantly.

"You actually managed to make your dad shut up for once!" Odd continues. "What's not to like about that?"

"He probably thought I was mentally damaged or something," I snort. "That's why he started being nice all of a sudden."

"Yeah, well, take what you can get," Odd says, getting up.

"Where are you going?"

"To go study at the library."

"Study?" I say, my eyes open with amazement. " _You're_ studying for finals?"

"Why not?" he says, shrugging. "Now that I'm officially a retired Lyoko Warrior and my quest for a soulmate is on hiatus, I have nothing else to do."

"Are you sure you didn't get hit by a Manta beam or something?"

"Positive," he says, jumping up and down. "Besides, don't _you_ have somewhere to be too?" I glance down at my phone nervously. "That's what I thought," Odd says, smirking. "See you round, good buddy."

I scroll down to my last conversation and open it with a sinking feeling. **Are you busy right now? Can I come over?** I text. **Go ahead.** The response comes almost immediately and I feel a little relieved. I close the door and lock it only to find Sissi coming down the hallway.

"Rumor says Jeremy Belpois is a spy working for the government, Ulrich!" she shouts. "Can you confirm that?"

"Not the time, Sissi," I mutter.

"Oh please, I have to know!" she says, clutching my arm. I see Milly and Tamiya come out behind the corner with a camera and notebooks.

"Here, I'll tell you. It's not true and you should leave us alone," I say sternly, and pull my arm back. I go through the double doors, tuning all their other questions out.

It doesn't take me long to reach the Ishiyamas. I ring the doorbell and Yumi's mom answers after a moment.

"Why, hello Ulrich," she says. "What are you doing here?"

"I was coming to see Yumi," I explain.

"Oh, well, of course," she says. "I'm sure she'll be delighted to see you. Yumi!"

"What?" comes the shout back.

"Ulrich is here!"

"Just let him in, Mom!" Yumi's mom nods and motions for me to step in.

"What happened to your ankle, Ulrich?" she asks, concerned.

"Oh, uh, nothing," I say sheepishly. "It's just a little sprain. I'll be off of it in two weeks."

"Well, usually we don't allow shoes in the household, but you can keep your walking boot on," she says.

"Thanks, Mrs. Ishiyama." I take off my other shoe and walk awkwardly up to Yumi's room, knocking on the door.

"Come in," comes the reply. I slowly push open the door and see her sitting on the futon, dressed in a light and thin black shirt and matching black shorts. Even when she doesn't try to be, she's beautiful.

"Can I sit down here?" I ask, motioning to the bed. She nods and I sit down next to her. We sit quietly for a moment, both staring straight ahead. "I'm sorry," I finally say softly. "For everything."

"No," she says, shaking her head. She turns to me and we look each other in the eyes. "I'm sorry. I pushed you away when you needed me the most."

"It was my fault though," I admit. "I shouldn't have listened to him, I should've listened to you. I should've let you live how you wanted to."

"That may be true," Yumi replies, "but it's not all your doing. You were right. I was being selfish. I didn't consider how you would feel about it. Nor did I try to make up for it."

"I'm sorry for everything else too," I mumble. "All the times I showed off, did reckless things, didn't save you-"

"Stop," Yumi says, and puts a finger to my lips. "Don't beat yourself up over it. You are who you are. Sometimes you'll save us all with your bravery, other times you'll screw it up. That's just how life is. What's done is done, Ulrich. XANA is finished. We don't have to worry about this anymore."

"I'm sorry I didn't trust you," I say, trying not to choke up. "I fought against you. The only girl I ever loved. The one who understood me."

"It'll be okay," she says, wrapping an arm around me. "We're all willing to forgive you, Ulrich. There's no figurative Return to the Past. There never was. It's time to move on." I meet her eyes, the calming presence of them, and the sympathy they project.

"Thank you, Yumi," I whisper. "You're the greatest."

"But from now on, we'll be completely honest with each other," she says quietly. "No more fighting over assumptions, old jealousy, and thoughts in our heads."

"Definitely," I promise. "I won't lose you again." She smiles and gives me a kiss on the cheek. I wrap my arm around her and we gaze out the window and the cherry tree in full blossom.

"So, what did I miss while I was gone?" I ask awkwardly after a while.

"Nothing much. Your clone pissed off quite a few people, I understand."

"Thankfully I only have one year left," I chuckle.

"Odd's taken to calling me Glamorous Geisha," Yumi remarks sarcastically. "He claims it just 'popped into his head' one day."

"I like it," I laugh. She glares at me and I let out another laugh.

"Don't you dare encourage him," she seethes. "Honestly, I'd rather prefer 'Yumes' over anything Odd comes up with."

"I think 'Gorgeous Geisha' fits better," I say softly, and kiss her on the cheek. She looks at me and rolls her eyes but struggles to hide an embarrassed smile afterwards.

"You won't believe what I told my parents," she murmurs.

"About what happened?" I ask. She nods in affirmation.

"I told them that I was at the factory for one of Jeremy's experiments and it went wrong," she says. "It was the most plausible explanation I could come up with."

"And what'd they say?"

"They were surprisingly okay with it. They said that it was okay as long as I didn't get injured and that it was good I was looking out for my friends at the hospital."

"That's good. I told my dad the truth."

"You what?" she exclaims.

"Yep. He thinks I'm insane now. And he said he'll vow to go easy on me from now on."

"I don't believe you. That's too good to be true."

"Come on, now why would I lie to you?" I tease. She rolls her eyes again and gives me a light slug in the arm.

"Oh, I've got some good news," she announces.

"Hm? What?" I ask.

"I committed to college," she says excitedly.

"Oxford?" I guess.

"No!" she exclaims. "Oxford didn't give me enough money in the end. I begged Paris for more and they let up. So I'm going to the University of Paris! I'll be close by," she adds with a wink. My whole body feels like it's floating all of a sudden and my heart flutters.

"That's fantastic, Yumes!" I exclaim. "You'll be close by!"

"Exactly," she replies, nodding vigorously. "I'll be able to visit you often."

"Fantastic," I murmur. I take her hand and hold it, tracing circles in her palm.

"Next year will be even more difficult, you know," she reminds me.

"We'll make it through," I say confidently. I pull her in closer and smell the light fragrance of cherry. Not too heavy, just enough to give her that unique trait.

"I love you," she breathes.

"I love you too." Our lips lock and I hold there for what seems like an eternity. All the pain, pleasure, torment and longing pressed into one moment. I wrap my hands around her head, pulling us even tighter. I'm totally immersed when I hear a creak at the door and open my eyes. I spin around and the door swings wide open.

"I don't know whether to barf or cheer," Hiroki exclaims, grinning widely.

"Hiroki, I swear to god…" Yumi begins.

"See ya, Sis," he says, grinning maliciously. He sprints down the stairs and I hear the door downstairs open and close with a thud.

"HIROKI!"

* * *

"Did anyone ever tell ya that your hair looks really discolored?" Aelita puts down her book and glares at me.

"Odd, I'm not going to tutor you anymore if you keep making fun of my hair," she scolds.

"Hey, chill out! I'll stop. I wanna actually get a good grade in history for once."

"Then you'd do well to pay attention," Aelita remarks sarcastically. "So, let's review. The Battle of Berlin happened in 1945 when the Soviets made their final advance on Germany."

"I wonder if the Nazis got singed tips from the bombings," I interrupt, grinning.

"Odd…" Aelita growls.

"Last one, I promise," I say with an innocent look. She rolls her eyes and sighs.

"I don't understand. I already washed my hair yesterday."

"Washing your hair?" I snort. "That's not gonna do anything! You have to get a haircut to get those tips out, Princess."

"Makes sense," she concedes. "But your hair looks like its on fire all the time, so I wouldn't be talking."

"My hair is on fire in a stylish way," I correct. "Yours just looks like it got burnt."

"Oh, whatever," she says dismissively. She checks the clock in the library and shakes her head. "Well, we got a half hour of productivity out of this at least. Let's go meet up with the others."

"Great idea, Princess," I say, following her. We walk outside and spot Jeremy sitting on a bench.

"Hey, you two," he greets. "What were you doing?"

"Just when I thought Odd turned a corner he went back to being a meathead," Aelita snorts.

"Objection, Your Honor," I retort. "Even you admitted we got a good half hour out of that!"

"I don't really know what to do now that Lyoko is gone," Jeremy admits.

"Relax, it's the end of the year!" I say, patting him on the back. "You've got the entire summer to figure out what you're going to do for fun next year."

"Here come Ulrich and Yumi," Aelita says, pointing. Sure enough, the lovebirds are holding hands and still walking towards us in the most awkward fashion possible.

"Well, well, if it isn't our King and Queen," I say, bowing.

"Knock it off, Odd," Ulrich says sternly.

"You two have sorted everything out?" Aelita asks. They both nod. "That's good. I'm glad you're back together and happy again!"

"Not quite," Yumi says. "Have any of you seen Hiroki?"

"No, why?" Jeremy asks.

"That little weasel is probably busy spreading rumors," Yumi sighs.

"So? You've got like a week left," I say. "What's the worst a few rumors could do?"

"I suppose you're right," Yumi answers.

"Graduation's next week," Ulrich adds. "I hope you all are coming to say goodbye to our fellow Lyoko Warrior."

"For sure," Jeremy says. "We'll all be there."

"Where are you going to school, Yumi?" Aelita asks.

"University of Paris," she responds. "I'll be close by in case any of you miss me too much," she adds, winking.

"Yeah. How am I supposed to get enjoyment out of pranks now if you aren't here?" I pout.

"Well, I won't miss that for sure."

* * *

I wait along with the 100 or so classmates behind the curtain anxiously. The last week of the school year had gone by without a hitch, and I'd spent quality time with the rest of the Warriors, especially Ulrich. Now, it was all coming to a close. Years and years at Kadic. All the time with being a Lyoko Warrior. It was all closing at once. I watch as Delmas and other schoolteachers and representatives go to the podium to start giving speeches. They drone on and on and on about life lessons, beginning new chapters, all the cliché stuff they were supposed to say at graduation. Finally they begin calling the students. We're lined up in alphabetical order, ready to walk across the stage and receive our diplomas. I put away my anxiety and wait for it.

"Yumi Ishiyama." I stride across the stage, ignoring the audience and bright lights and focusing on my destination. I shake Mr. Delmas's hand, then a few others, and receive my diploma. After I'm done, I take a quick peek at the crowd. I spot everyone in the front row: my parents, Hiroki, and the Lyoko Warriors. They're all on their feet, clapping and cheering. I smile widely for what feels like the first time in front of such a big crowd, and I take my seat, waiting for the ceremony to finish.

"Well, I guess this is the end of the road," Ulrich remarks. We're standing in a circle at Kadic, near the gate. I had already told my family I would meet them later for dinner and celebration. The newly graduated Kadic seniors hang out around campus, meeting friends and family. As for me, right now was time for my friends.

"Does…anyone wanna say anything?" Jeremy asks awkwardly.

"We never quite closed the book on Lyoko either," Aelita says. "We might want to do that first."

"You're right, Aelita!" I exclaim. "We didn't talk about it like the first time. I was so caught up in all this prep for graduation."

"Well, we can talk about it now," Ulrich says. "Who wants to start?"

"What are we talking about?" Odd asks, confused. We all laugh at his obliviousness.

"What Lyoko meant to us. Now that it's gone," Aelita reminds him.

"Oh right! I'll definitely go first then!" Odd exclaims. We turn to him expectantly. "Lyoko is like a loaded baked potato," he analogizes. "You never know what you're gonna get when you bite into that potato, but you know that you're gonna have too many experiences to talk about. I always looked the dumbest on Lyoko, but it's alright because that was a rare part of the potato I didn't want to eat. I will always be the best pilot of all of us, and I have the coolest weapons and powers too."

"This is coming from the guy who complained about not having enough powers," Ulrich snickers.

"You have to be a connoisseur on par with Mr. Chardin to fully appreciate Lyoko," Odd monologues. "It's a work of art. A hideous, paradoxical work of art. It's not fun at times. It's deadly at times. But once you're done observing it, you're grateful for everything it taught you."

"That was quite an analogy, Odd," Aelita giggles.

"Me next," Ulrich says. "Lyoko has always been my safe haven. When I was angry, I could go crack a few heads. When I was overwhelmed, it was a getaway, even for a few minutes. Lyoko made me a hero. I loved that feeling above everything else. The exhilaration, adrenaline, everything. Even though XANA would find ways to create new monsters and clones, I secretly kind of enjoyed it because it meant I was getting a challenge. And my ultimate lesson was taught by XANA, where I learned the meaning of trust and friendship."

"I'll go now, since you two probably have a lot more to say," I muse, nodding towards Aelita and Jeremy. "My discovery of Lyoko was a complete accident, as was falling in love with this kid," I say, nodding towards Ulrich. He blushes and it's Odd's turn to snicker. "But I can say that this was the greatest accident of my life. The five of us share a bond that I'd say is one of the strongest in the world. We fight for each other, cry with each other, have each other's backs. Lyoko for me meant taking my relationships with people more seriously than I did before. It taught me to reach out, to learn to have fun in different ways, and to sometimes just go with it. Even through all the struggles, both here and in the virtual world, I never gave up. _We_ never gave up."

"Go ahead, Jeremy," Aelita says, nodding.

"If you say so," Jeremy says. "Lyoko will always be the most important part of my life, no matter what happens. It changed me, physically, mentally, and emotionally, all for the better. I learned to use my knowledge for good, to work with all of you guys, who all have different personalities, and to stay strong. Like everyone said, it's not really the fight on Lyoko. It's what we got out of it that counts. If not for Lyoko, I don't know where I'd be. Still a nerd, still friendless, still powerless. Lyoko gave me the confidence to try new things, to go beyond. And most importantly, it gave me the support system, a backbone of the most caring people I've ever met."

We look at Aelita, waiting for her to speak. She finally looks up and gives a small smile.

"I'll always be connected to Lyoko," she begins. "Even if it's gone. We are one and the same. I may be human, but I also hold the keys to a completely different world. I started out with nothing. No memory, no way out, no way to even prove I was human. And slowly but surely, I knocked down the barriers. I escaped, I regained my memory, and I freed myself from Lyoko. But without all of you, without people who helped me along the way, I would still be nothing more than computer data. My father did this to save me, and we ultimately repaid him by helping him escape as well. Jeremy, you're the mastermind. I've watched you grow so much as a person through helping me and spending many sleepless nights working. You don't work and do the things nobody else can do because you're talented; it's because you care. You cared about me, you care about your friends, and you cared about my father, even if it was hard to keep up the fight sometimes. Odd, you've been the glue of our motley little crew, even if you don't realize it. Your jokes and positive attitude kept us rolling and gave us a lift when we needed it. Even if sometimes you'd get a little too sticky, you wowed us over and over again with your ability to stay positive and get out of almost every hopeless situation. Ulrich, you showed us the true meaning of bravery and loyalty. You always gave it your all for us, on Earth or on Lyoko. We could all see how much you poured in for us, and we did all we could for you in return. You proved what matters most to you, and showed how much you truly care for us. Even though people might not understand what you're feeling, if they spend time around you they'll get to know you. You have the heart of a lion, and you always act on it. You're our knight in shining armor, the one who will fight to no end to defend those he loves the most. Yumi, you're the calm in the storm that is the Lyoko Warriors. You're always there to lend a hand to help, a shoulder to cry on, and an ear to vent to. People say you're rude and emotionless. I don't think I could object to that more. You're the oldest of us, and you're the one who does the little things. You've been a big sister to me, allowing me to ask questions, vent frustrations, and just have a good friend to turn to. You help me keep the boys in check when they get excited. But it's not just that. You help us make the best decisions and do favors without asking for anything. You're not afraid to tell us the truth, and sometimes that's exactly what we need."

"A-Aelita…" Jeremy stammers. "T-that…"

"Was AMAZING!" Odd finishes. "Princess, you're wrong. You're the glue, the bravest, and the wisest of all of us."

"Odd's right," Ulrich adds, smiling. "You're the greatest, Princess. You understand people like they're books."

"The walking encyclopedia on how to read people," I add, laughing. We all laugh and Aelita blushes furiously. "Your kindness is the light at the end of the tunnel," I add. "You kept us on track, made sure we were acting the right way, and made us all better people."

"You are the most amazing human I've ever met," Jeremy murmurs.

"There's no need to flatter, you guys," Aelita says a little embarrassedly.

"Princess, there's every need to flatter," Odd says. "You are the greatest of all of us. Who's with me?" We all raise our hands immediately.

"That's what I love about you, Aelita," Jeremy says softly. He takes her hand and she grips it tightly. I glance at Odd and Ulrich and they're both thinking the same thing. We all join hands and hold them in the circle, basking in our unforgettable adventures and shared bond.

* * *

"Make sure to write back often!" Aelita calls, waving.

"Come back to see us a lot!" Jeremy adds.

"Don't forget to come every second Friday, it's meatball day!" Odd jokes. We all laugh and Yumi waves goodbye to the rest of them. After they had said their goodbyes to Yumi I had wanted a moment for ourselves and they all agreed. We walk past the gate and on the sidewalk, stopping at the corner where she usually turns. The sun is setting and it washes us both in a warm orange glow.

"So this is goodbye, I guess," I start.

"It sure is," she answers crisply. I smirk. _Typical Yumi answer._

"You'll call whenever you can and text me every day, right?" I ask.

"Ulrich, I'm breaking up with you again if you don't find the time to call me at least three times a week," she says, and I chuckle.

"Like you said, plenty of good times coming even without Lyoko," I quote.

"For sure," she says, taking my hands in the same way she did so many years ago.

"We'll make it through," I say confidently. "Our love is strong enough to withstand anything."

"Thanks, you should really play the leading actor in a cheesy romance," she says sarcastically, and I frown. "I'm just kidding!" she suddenly bursts out, laughing heartily. I roll my eyes and shake my head.

"I'm never gonna survive. I won't be able to tell if you're being sarcastic over the phone."

"We've still got an entire summer for you to figure that out, Romeo."

"Yeah, well." I grip her hands tighter and look into her eyes, pulsating brilliantly with energy and life.

"I'll miss you, Ulrich."

"I'll miss you too, Yumes. But it's different this time. I can feel it."

"So can I," she replies, gazing into the distance. I wrap my arms around her, pulling her in.

"I love you," I whisper, crashing my lips into hers. We stay there for what seems like eternity, the scent of cherries, feel of her soft lips, and heat off our faces all overwhelming me. We finally break free and she stares into my eyes.

"I love you too." And with that, she breaks from our embrace, heading back home. She waves back at me and I give a salute, watching her slowly disappear into the sunset.

* * *

 **Stay tuned for the epilogue, coming in hopefully a few days to a week. It will be fluffy and if you'd rather the story ends like this, you don't have to read. But I encourage you to once it's up :)**


	31. Epilogue

**IT'S FINALLY DONE! Apologies everyone for dragging this out so long. But it's finally finished! The second half is particularly choppy since I wrote it over multiple days/with no sleep so it's got a notable absence of fluff. But honestly I just wanted to get this done and not drag it out any longer. So without further ado, read on and don't forget to review!**

* * *

 _10 years later_

What a ride it's been.

10 years and we all had moved on to live drastically different lives. I graduated from the University of Paris, studying Philosophy and Statistics, and I landed a job with a consulting firm as an analyst. Ulrich had gone on to accept an athletic scholarship from Boston University, ironically making him the cause of our separation. He went on to have some good seasons in MLS before calling it quits and trying to land a more steady job with his Economics degree. After I got my job I requested to be transferred to the US, so we could live together. We married and had two kids. Jeremy had gone on to study at MIT, graduating with a degree in Computer Science and also getting his PhD. Aelita became a psychiatrist and also did shows occasionally, either with the Subdigitals or with other groups. Odd went back to Italy to study film production and left for Hollywood after graduation, trying to latch on to opportunities there.

My eyes flutter open and I glance at the clock. 8:03 AM. Perfect timing. Jeremy and Aelita would be arriving soon and then I would head out to get some ingredients…

"Where you going, babe?" I feel hands wrap around my waist and pull me back down to the bed.

"Let go of me, dork."

"No can do, Yumes."

"You'll have to get your lazy ass out of bed sooner or later. Isn't Odd arriving at the airport in an hour?"

"So? That still gives me plenty of time with you," he whispers with a wink. I wriggle free from his grip and get off the bed, glancing out the window. We owned a summer home on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea in France and we had agreed to meet up for our ten year reunion. The waves lap calmly against the shore as the sun is already in full view. I walk over to the drawer, taking off my shirt to put on a nicer one for the day. I hear a catcall from the bed and ball up my shirt, throwing it at the obnoxious 13 year old at heart laying in the bed. He scrambles for it and presses it to his face, inhaling creepily.

"Unbelievable," I mutter, rolling my eyes. "Sometimes I question if we should sleep in separate rooms."

"At least this shirt doesn't abuse me like you," he replies. "Now, turn around, I wanna see more of the view." I pick up a hair brush and throw it, hitting him square in the face.

"Men will never exhaust their hormones," I sigh, shaking my head. "Now get up and get going."

"See what I'm talking about?" he answers. "So much abuse." I get dressed and leave our bedroom to go check on the kids. I creak open the door right next to us, checking on one year old Miku Ishiyama-Stern, sleeping peacefully in her crib. I smile and close the door, moving on to the other room. Five year old Tobias Ishiyama-Stern has kicked off his sheets again. I gently pull them over his body again and close the door, heading downstairs. I put some bread in the toaster and get to work on the eggs.

"Hey Mr. Useless!" I call. "You'd better get up soon!"

"I'm coming, boo!" comes the reply. I shake my head and turn my attention back to the stove. A few moments later I hear footsteps coming down the stairs and laugh to myself about how quickly he got ready this time.

"Surprised I got up this fast?" he asks, as if reading my mind.

"You'd better hurry," I answer.

"What do you say I ride the motorcycle today?" he flirts with a wink.

"Great idea," I drawl. "Have you considered that Odd will be bringing luggage?"

"I'm just kidding," he says with a shrug. He grabs a piece of toast and walks out the door. "See you in a couple hours, honey."

"You better be back to help with lunch," I call. He gives me a wave as he closes the door to the garage. I breathe a sigh of relief. He had a tendency to show his overbearing personality on relaxed vacations and reunions like this. But he was still a gentleman, or at least tried to be one.

* * *

After the morning of pushing the line with Yumi I head to the airport. Odd thankfully took the liberty of actually flying to the airport closest to us instead of just flying to Paris. I arrive at the gate Odd's supposed to be coming to. I check the board while looking around with a flamboyant man with blonde and purple hair. The flight is on time and I see people start to stream out. I play Candy Crush V mindlessly to pass the time. Then, suddenly I get hit on the head.

My Pencak-Silat training makes me automatically hop back in a defensive stance. Then I see Odd doubled over in laughter. He's been wearing his hair down ever since the end of junior year, but he looks ridiculous all the same in a purple suit and a matching purple suitcase.

"I knew you would do that, good buddy!" He exclaims.

"Very funny," I snort. "Come on, let's get going so we can meet up with the others."

"Already? We should have some fun before we head back."

"No, Odd. Yumi is going to kill me. She's already upset with me."

"What did you do? Ask for tossed salad?"

"ODD!" I yell, gritting my teeth. We get to my car in the parking garage and Odd puts his luggage in the trunk.

"Relax, good buddy," he says. "I'm kidding around. How about we go get a drink? At that bar you talked about last time."

"That's not a good idea," I say nervously.

"It'll be quick!" he insists. "One drink, and we're out."

"Okay, fine," I concede. "But only one drink. Then we head back immediately." Odd throws his fist in the air and I turn the other way at the intersection, heading to the bar. We get there and I'm immediately overwhelmed by the amount of people there on a morning. Odd and I take seats at the bar and the bartender, Louis, comes over quickly.

"My boy, Ulrich!" he laughs heartily. "And you've brought a friend this time."

"Right you are," I reply. "This is Odd Della Robbia. We're high school friends."

"Ah, I see," Louis acknowledges. "Well, you'll love it here, Odd."

"I bet!" Odd shouts. "What have you got on special today?"

"We've got a nice little three fruit blend martini," Louis says. "Pineapple, starfruit, and dragonfruit. Super limited edition."

"I'll take that," Odd decides immediately. I snicker and he glares at me. "What?"

"Odd, that drink's gay," I snort.

"Usual for you, Ulrich?" Louis asks, ignoring my comment.

"Uh, yeah," I say quickly. "Straight vodka with a lemon." It was a weird specialty but Louis didn't judge and I liked hard alcohol. He gets to mixing our drinks and brings them over a few moments later.

"Who you got tonight?" Odd says, nudging me and nodding towards the TV. "Germany or Spain?"

"Obviously I'm biased," I chuckle. "Germany's taking the Eurocup this year."

"Remember when you almost made the German team?" Odd reminds me.

"Ugh," I groan, almost spitting out a sip of vodka. I'd been close to making the team but they passed over me at the last moment a few years ago. It was probably bias against MLS or something.

"What's it like to watch the game after playing in it so long?" Odd wonders.

"Weird," I reply. "Sometimes I just shut off the TV and don't let anyone watch. Like I'll do anything but more soccer."

"At least you made a killing out there."

"Hardly."

"Better than being a bartender, for sure," Louis chimes in.

"I think this is a good job," I reply. "You get tips, meet great people, have fun."

"I suppose. But it's nothing like being a professional athlete."

"Everyone has a different job suited to them."

"Ah, Ulrich, always the philosophical one."

"Not really," I chuckle.

"Another drink?" Odd asks. Louis nods and goes to work on another one.

"Odd, what are you doing?" I hiss.

"Come on, you gotta let go," he chides.

"Ugh, fine. Get me another vodka too."

"That's the spirit!" he says, holding up a hand. I reluctantly high-five it and turn my attention to the TV again. It's just more news and upcoming games. We chat a little more and get another drink. I start feeling a little woozy but I adjust after a minute and I'm fine.

"Wait," Odd says suddenly. "What's that noise?"

"What noise?" I ask.

"It sounds like a phone ringing." I pull my phone out of my pocket and sure enough, it's a call. From Yumi. I wince and pick up.

"Where the hell are you?" she says angrily on the other end.

"Uh, um," I begin.

"Off somewhere with Odd? Get back here. Jeremy and Aelita are here and we're _expecting_ you."

"Sorry," I mutter. I quickly hang up and motion to Odd.

"Uh oh, wifey's angry," he snickers.

"This was YOUR idea!" I shout, shaking a finger at him. He raises his hands in innocence.

"My idea. No one said you had to listen to me," he chuckles. I growl and ask Louis for the bills. I place a 50 and get off the stool to go to the car. Odd hurries after me as I storm into the car. The wrath of Yumi was like no other.

* * *

"Now that that's settled, we can get back to business," I say to Aelita. She nods and turns back to the stovetop. Jeremy and Aelita had arrived about an hour ago along with their two-year-old, Camille Belpois. She was now attempting to walk around, curiously poking at Tobias's blocks on the floor. I was fixing lunch with Aelita and Jeremy was watching our kids. Except we were missing two other Lyoko Warriors. So I had called Meathead 1 and Meathead 2 to get them back. No doubt they were out for a drink again.

"You keep them in line, Mrs. Stern," Aelita teases.

"Don't call me that," I moan. "It's Mrs. Ishiyama if you want to be proper."

"I know, Yumi. You never would've stood for taking Ulrich's last name."

"You know me too well," I reply, as I load a rack of food into the oven.

"If one of you could give me a hand when you're done, that'd be great," Jeremy calls from the living room. I glance over and see Tobias trying to pelt him with his toys.

"Tobias, don't treat Uncle Jeremy like that," I call.

"Okay, Mommy," he says and puts the blocks down. Jeremy breathes a sigh of relief.

"I wish Camille was that obedient," Aelita chuckles. Just then the door opens and Odd and Ulrich step through, panting.

"Had a nice vodka?" I remark sarcastically. "Let me guess, three glasses."

"No clue what you're talking about," Ulrich denies.

"Oh come on," I mutter. I grab him by his collar and smell his breath. "Yep, caught red-handed."

"It was Odd's idea," he retorts.

"I told him he didn't have to listen to me!" Odd protests. I shake my head at the numbskulls.

"Odd, come over here and help Aelita and I with lunch," I order.

"Ooh, I love taste-testing."

"Uh-uh. You're helping us cook."

"Ugh, fine. But let me unpack." Odd zips open his suitcase and pulls out a purple cat apron. Aelita and I glance at each other and burst out laughing. He glares at us and comes over to chop vegetables.

After another half hour or so lunch is ready and we gather at the table to eat. I prepare food for Miku and give smaller portions to Tobias and Camille. Aelita brings the rest of the dishes to the table and we're ready to dig in.

"Excited for the concert tonight, Aelita?" I ask.

"Eh. Not feeling either way," she replies. "It's a small show, I've done a ton of these."

"You'll do great," Jeremy encourages. "I just hope Odd doesn't need spare tickets again."

"Of course not!" he exclaims. "For the moment, I am like a tumbleweed, looking for someone to latch on to. But it is of the utmost importance that I put my craft above my endless quest for true love, no?"

"Keep making excuses," Ulrich snorts.

"Oh no, don't you go there," Odd threatens. "I could make so many jokes that I won't make because I'm taking the high road."

"I didn't know we were having five children at lunch," I mutter.

"What's your latest film about, Odd?" Aelita asks.

"It's great! I have a side job in directing the latest hit comedy," Odd says. "It's not well-known yet but it will be after the film festival!"

"Della Robbia Productions takes on a comedy? I've got to see this," Ulrich snickers.

"I think Odd will add his unique style to it," Aelita says.

"I agree. Cringeworthy as they were, Odd's films at Kadic did have his own print on them," Jeremy adds.

"We can talk about Odd's films later," I interrupt. "Aelita's concert is tonight."

"It's alright, Yumi, it's not that big of a deal," she says reassuringly.

"Yeah! Princess is a true rock star. She's natural on the big stage!" Odd adds.

"Well, I hope we have some plans for tonight before then," I say.

"Nah," Ulrich says. "Just some more sleep."

"Maybe we could go shopping," Aelita suggests.

"Sure, but Princess will be mobbed by fans if she steps foot into a store," Odd remarks.

"Oh, it's not that bad, Odd."

"We shouldn't distract her," Jeremy agrees. "Why don't I go along with some other people and Aelita can tell me what she needs."

"Fine," Aelita concedes. "I'll stay here and watch the kids."

"Great," Ulrich says. "I'll stay as well."

"I guess I'm going, then," I say.

"I'll come too!" Odd finishes. I roll my eyes and start clearing the table. Everyone pitches in and soon lunch is cleaned up.

"So where are we going first?" I ask after the kids have been taken care of.

"Probably to pick up some essentials, and then clothing," Jeremy replies.

"And then the grocery store, right?" Odd chimes in.

"No," Jeremy says. "Just those two stores. It'll be a quick trip."

"Sounds good to me. Get in, you two." I unlock the car and Jeremy sits next to me, with Odd in the back. We pull out and I drive to a nearby local market store. I pick up some soap and new pans, and I see Jeremy heading towards the cleaning supplies section. Odd wanders aimlessly around, looking at skate clothes. We finish up relatively quick and start heading back. I wonder how Ulrich and Aelita are doing with the kids.

* * *

"No, Tobias, don't go over there!" I groan. I run over and block him from the oven.

"Why?" he pipes up.

"Listen to your father," Aelita says gently. I escort him back to the couch and make him sit and lay down. Miku is back in her crib and Camille is sleeping peacefully on the other couch.

"I'm not tired," he pouts.

"You will be," I reply. "We've got a long night ahead. Come on, lay down." He finally gives in and I wrap up the blanket around him. Within minutes everyone's asleep.

"Children are such a battle, aren't they?" Aelita remarks.

"It's so bad," I moan. "They just have endless energy."

"Just imagine how they'll be when they're grown up. I'm sure Tobias and Miku will be just as snappy as their parents."

"And Camille will be the next Brainiac," I snort. "Seriously, just start her college applications already."

"Not necessarily," she chuckles. "Sometimes too much of one gene cancels out the trait."

"That's for people like Jeremy to figure out," I dismiss. "I just hope they'll take after their mother in school and not me."

"Aw, don't sell yourself short. You're fairly smart yourself."

"Whatever," I say, shrugging. "You should probably get some rest yourself for the concert. I'll clean up this place."

"I don't need that much. But I'll take you up on your offer." Aelita goes into the guest room and I take a duster to the rooms, starting the cleaning of the house that Yumi will inevitably make me do anyway.

After the others get back we play cards for a while, then prepare dinner and get ready for the concert. I decide to go in a casual jacket and khakis. Yumi picks out a black top and matching capris, and Jeremy overdresses with a suit. Odd doesn't bother changing. We arrive early and get our front row seats, watching people file in.

"When's Aelita's act?" Odd asks.

"At the end," Jeremy replies.

"This won't be too loud for the kids, will it?" I ask.

"Shouldn't be," Yumi answers, peering over Miku's carriage. "I brought some earmuffs just in case."

"What a horror if Odd ever has kids," I say sarcastically. "He'll never be able to attend a concert the first few years."

"You're right!" Odd exclaims. "It's a tragedy!" I think he's being serious. The concert starts and there's a few DJs at the beginning, followed by some singers and a rapper. It's all great and original. Finally, Aelita's act comes.

She's dressed in a sleek pink outfit, with purple stripes and a bracelet on her wrist. It resembles her Lyoko outfit and I have a feeling it was intended to be that way. She starts with a few mixes that get the crowd hyped, and we get out of our chairs and dance.

"Come on, Jeremy!" Odd shouts. "Shake it!" Jeremy puts his head in his hands and shakes his head. I accidentally bump into Yumi and she shoves me playfully.

"Okay everyone, for my last number, I'm going to sing a song," Aelita announces. "This goes out to my friends in the front row, who have been with me for the longest time." We stare at her eagerly and she raises the microphone to her lips.

 _Here we are, going far  
To save all that we love.  
If we give what we've got,  
We will make it through.  
Here we are like the sun,  
Shining bright on your world today -  
Make evil go away!_

 _Code Lyoko, we will stand alone.  
Code Lyoko, be there when you call  
Code Lyoko, we will stand real tall  
Code Lyoko, stronger after all!_

She finishes singing and the crowd stands up, applauding. We clap and cheer and she gives a little smile, taking a bow. The crowd starts streaming for the exits and we get up on stage, taking the door to backstage.

"Fantastic, Princess!" Yumi exclaims as we open the door to her room.

"You killed it out there!" I add, patting her on the back.

"I'm proud of you," Jeremy says, grinning widely.

"You all are so sweet," she says, blushing. "But, I'd mind a little time alone to change. I'll join you all outside?"

"Sure thing, Princess," Odd says, giving a thumbs up. We head outside and a few minutes later she rejoins us. We drive back to our summer home, Yumi, Odd and our kids in one car and Jeremy and Aelita and Camille in the other.

"Alright, we'd better get the kids to sleep," Aelita decides when we arrive back. Yumi takes Miku and follows Aelita with Camille to their cribs. Tobias stays, hugging my leg.

"You need to go," I urge.

"Come on, good buddy," Odd says. "Let him stay up for a little while longer."

"Yeah," Tobias agrees.

"Don't listen to Uncle Odd," I snort.

"What's the ruckus about?" Yumi asks, returning with Aelita.

"Mommy, I wanna stay up," Tobias says.

"Fine, but only for 10 minutes," Yumi answers. We take seats around the table and Tobias looks at me.

"Daddy? What's Loko?" he asks.

"Huh?" I say, confused, then understand. "You mean Lyoko?"

"Uh oh," Aelita chuckles. "Jeremy, what do you think?"

"I suppose it's fine," Jeremy concedes. "It's been so long."

"Okay," I say, nodding. Everyone turns to me and I put a hand on his shoulder. "Would you like to hear a story?" Tobias nods his head vigorously and I chuckle. "Okay, it all starts with Uncle Jeremy and his little adventure one day…"

 **The End**

* * *

 **Thank you to everyone who has read this, whether from the beginning or hopping in at various points. Special s/o to tyrexe for being my loyal reviewer, and all you other fans. Your support means a ton to me, and I'm glad I was finally able to finish. So long: Tower Deactivated.**


End file.
